


Burning Ice

by Kiss_The_Falling_Sky



Category: Promare (2019), Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst, Crossover, Discrimination, Fluff, Mecha, Minor Character Death, Multi, Name Spelt Viktor, Name Spelt Yuuri, Russian Skaters are Burning Rescue, Villain Chris Giacometti, Yuuri Phichit and Seung Gil are Burnish, viktuuri, yoi x promare
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28008891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiss_The_Falling_Sky/pseuds/Kiss_The_Falling_Sky
Summary: The City of Promepolis was born of a need for hope after the Great World Blaze.But hate for those who caused it was always be around.When Viktor Nikiforov joins Burning Rescue, he wants to make a difference.Little did he know, on his first shift, that he would end up doing just that.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Mila Babicheva/Sara Crispino
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So when I wrote this, I didn't know whether I wanted to upload it or not.  
> It is exactly what it looks like, a crossover of my two great anime loves.  
> It pretty much follows the Promare story with Yuri!!! On Ice characters, though I do throw some of my own dialogue and little shippy moments in there.  
> I did debate on changing the Burnish to some Ice wielding beings...  
> But I ended up keeping the Promare as they were, which is fine.  
> It was also a lot longer than I imagined it being, but this should keep me going until I'm ready to start the Wretched and Divine sequal.  
> ENJOY!

When Governor Christophe Giacometti had shown up at the Burning Rescue HeadQuarters, it was needless to say that all of the team members were a little surprised. Of course, their Captain, Yakov, had been expecting his visit and not felt the need to relay that information to the others. 

“Governor Giacometti. It’s an honor to have you here.” The old man greeted him, shaking his hand. “Though a reason would have been greatly appreciated.”

“My apologies.” Giacometti laughed. “In all honesty, this whole thing has been rather rushed.”

“Captain Yakov? What’s going on?” Otabek asked, fiddling with a bit of machinery as the two talked.

“Ah, I’m sending a new recruit your way!” Giacometti explained.

This...even Yakov hadn’t been expecting this. All five members of Burning Rescue had to have their jaws picked up off of the floor, as Christophe Giacometti disappeared and returned, followed by a young man with Silver hair and smile so bright it nearly blinded them all.

Dear god…

“This is Viktor Nikiforov. I’m personally assigning him to your team.” The young man started forward a little as the Governor clapped him on the shoulder.

“Governor...I really don’t think this is the best idea. A position here for a new recruit would be incredibly ill-advised! He could be killed if he doesn’t know what he’s doing!” Yakov pleaded, if not for the team’s sake, for the young man’s.

“He scored very well on all of his tests, the only thing he’s lacking is experience! Come on Feltsman, give the kid a chance!” 

“Please sir! I’ll do my best!” Viktor finally chimed in.

Yakov looked the young man up and down, sighing quietly to himself as he weighed up the pros and cons of this. On the one hand, it was true that they were in need of at least one more person on their team, especially with Mad Burnish on the rise. But was a guy with very little practical training really going to help?

One more glance at Viktor, his big dumb smile, that stupid stick he was fiddling with, and Yakov gave in. Was this something he was going to regret? Who knew, that remained to be seen. 

“Fine. But for the first few weeks you’re on observations only, do you understand?!” Yakov barked.

“Yes sir!” Viktor saluted, panic flashing across his face at the volume of Yakov’s voice.

“Brilliant! Viktor, do everything the Captain says! Good work all of you!” 

With that, Christophe Giacometti left the building...leaving them all to deal with the quietness that came with this announcement. After what felt like a painful amount of time with Viktor just grinning at them, swinging his stick, the Captain cracked.

“So, I suppose I should introduce you to the team.” Yakov sighed, pointing to each member in turn. “This is Georgi and Otabek, they handle internal rescues and you’ll probably join them once you’re a bit more trained up. That’s Mila, she handles arial rescues, say someone’s trapped on the roof, she flies up to get them and bring them back to ground level. And uh...the little one over there is Yuri. He does a lot of the technical side of our rescues-”

“Oi! Who are you calling little?!” The blonde growled.

“-and we wouldn’t get anywhere without him!” The captain finished his sentence with an eye-roll. “For a while, you’re going to be shadowing him. Don’t get in his way, and don’t distract him. Any questions?” 

The statement was directed towards Viktor, who did open his mouth, but in the end, it was Mila who raised her hand.

“Yeah, so what’s with the stick you’re waving around? Decoration?” She asked, eyebrows raised.

“Oh, this?” Viktor twirled it, smiling up at it as if it were a pet. “This is a Matoi! It was a firefighting tool used in a far east nation many many years ago! They’d fight fires with their own bodies, I find them so admirable!”

“So…” After a few seconds of typing, Yuri turned and pointed to the large screen he was sitting at. “You mean this…?”

“Yes! That’s it! Using this I can take out any fire!”

It was that moment that Yakov decided he’d had enough of listening to this nonsense, so he took the stick off of the new recruit and gripped it until it bent. They were in a very dangerous job, and there was no time for messing around.

“Listen to me recruit. Playing firefighter like that is gonna get you killed, this stick isn’t going to protect you when you’re surrounded by flames!” The captain told him, scowling.

“He couldn’t send us someone easier to train…” Otabek sighed, looking to Georgi who simply shrugged.

“He wasn’t wrong…!” Viktor mumbled, clenching his fists. “Governor Giacometti asked me to do this, and after he saved me once...so I’m going to do this! I’m going to save so many people with Burning Rescue, and my burning soul!”

The five of them watched as Viktor pulled at his stick until it bent the other way, eventually snapping completely and leaving the silver-haired man to stare at it in shock.

“He really is an idiot…” Mila sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

Before they could argue about this anymore, the sirens started ringing, attracting all of their attention. They all cringed a little, especially being thrown into a rescue so soon after gaining a new recruit. Hopefully, it was only a simple fire and not a Burnish situation...it was way too soon for Viktor to be involved in that sort of mission.

“ _ Burnish activity detected around district 8! _ ” 

Goddammit!

“Alright Burning Rescue! Dispatch!”

They all set off running for their stations, Mila separating to go up to her plane. For a moment he forgot about the elephant in the room until he saw Viktor trying to join them only to be stopped by Otabek.

“What are you doing?!” The recruit asked, trying to get past him.

“Stopping you from getting yourself killed. You’re staying here Viktor.” 

“Listen, kid, this is for your safety. Your first mission can’t be a Burnish disturbance. You could be killed.” Georgi stepped in, though he didn’t talk often when he did he always had good points.

“He’s right. Wait here for us ok? Trust us on this.” Yakov rested a hand on his shoulder.

“How am I supposed to learn if I’m stuck here all the time!?” Viktor shot back, scowling.

Every fiber of his being was telling Yakov to ignore the new recruit and get into his car, but there was something in Viktor’s eyes that screamed of...something. He had no idea what it was, but the young man had a spark of whatever it was, and maybe he  _ was _ actually exactly what they needed.

“Fine, come with us. But you stay in the recuse mobile...and Yuri is going to be looking after you.”

“What?!” Yuri piped up from where he was hanging out of the van.

“Enough talking! We need to get going now!”

Viktor grinned, following Otabek, Georgi and Yuri into the back of the huge van, taking a seat as it pulled out of the garage. Promepolis was a large city, but he didn’t think District 8 was too far from headquarters. Still, the journey felt impossibly long as he sat waiting for them to arrive.

“Georgi, Otabek. You two will be heading in as soon as we come to a stop. Mila, head straight up to the roof to scout ahead. Yuri, keep an eye in case there’s anything we’re not ready for. Viktor...sit still.” That last instruction was obviously added on as an afterthought.

“Yes sir!” They all responded, except for Viktor, who’s leg began to bounce in anticipation.

As soon as they came to a stop, Georgi and Otabek disappeared with the large machinery to get into the building, start putting out fires, and rescuing those trapped inside. Viktor was left to watch it all play out on the screen, though the whole time his leg began to bounce faster and faster.

“When can I get out there…?” He asked.

“You’re not. You’re sitting there and staying quiet.” Yuri growled, trying to focus on what he was doing. 

The silver-haired man groaned, just as laughter was heard through the intercom of the three senior members' headpieces. Viktor didn’t recognize it, but from the gasps on the other end, it was clear that they did. Yuri cursed and switched the camera.

“So this was a Mad Burnish job…” Yakov hissed.

On the screen were two men dressed in what looked like sharp black armor, the shine changing colors as the flames shifted around them. They definitely looked as dangerous as the news portrayed them to be...if this terrorist group was the ones starting this fire...there had to be a reason?!

“Ah crap!”

“What’s wrong?” Viktor came up behind him, looking at the screens, which switched to an internal camera.

“There’s loads of flammable material in a storeroom, it won’t be long before the flames get in there and the whole place explodes!” Yuri tried to get the captain’s attention, but they were too focused on Mad Burnish to listen to him. “Dammit, there’s a person in there too!”

For a moment, Viktor didn’t move. He ran through the options they had in his head, how long each one would take to execute and which one had the highest success rate. They had even less time given that the room the woman was trapped in was filled with explosives...he had to act now. So before he could be stopped, Viktor grabbed his taped together Matoi.

“Hey! Where the hell are you going?!” Yuri finally noticed him moving.

“Captain and the others are busy dealing with Mad Burnish. Someone has to get her out of there!” Viktor picked up a tub and read the label.

“Idiot! If you go in there now you’ll burn!”

Viktor opened the tub and covered himself head to toe in the cooling gel, cringing a little as it got into his hair, but it was a necessary sacrifice to get that woman out. 

“Yakov! Are you hearing this?! This idiot is going to get himself killed!” Yuri called into the computer.

There was a pause from the other end as Yakov apparently contemplated the situation.

“Let’s do it. Get in there Viktor, and try not to die.” 

The young man burst out of the Rescue mobile and came to a stop at the window nearest to where they saw the young woman. Aiming his Matoi at the window, he pressed a button and sent the head shooting off, his entire body being pulled with it as soon as it landed. 

As soon as he was inside, he started waving the stick around to clear his way of flames. Viktor was almost brutally aware of how dangerous his situation was, but he couldn’t stop now. He finally made it to the door where he and Yuri had seen the woman and kicked it down. 

Admittedly that was a stupid idea since if she’d been behind it he could have easily hurt her, but luckily she’d moved away.

“It’s alright now Miss! I’m here to get you out, but we have to move fast!” 

He drenched himself in another round of cooling gel and lifted the girl into his arms, quietly apologizing for getting the green stuff on her clothes, and set off at a run. If they didn’t get out now they’d get caught in the inevitable explosion. He ran for the window with flames chasing him, somewhere along the line losing both his shirt and jacket, he could see Mila’s plane hovering so made a quick decision.

As the two of them jumped through the window, he aimed his Matoi at the tail of the red plane and pressed the button, grinning as the chain wrapped around it. Viktor emerged from the flames, shirtless and holding the girl in his arms, the biggest grin on his face.

“Captain! Rescue successful!” He called, loud enough so everyone could hear.

“Good job rookie.” Yakov smirked, almost impressed at the young man’s actions.

As soon as they landed, Mila helped Viktor move the girl. She must have fainted somewhere on the journey down, so the two of them got her onto the soft grass and checked her vitals. Luckily the girl was completely fine, it had just been the stress of the situation that had taken it out of her. As she started to wake up, both of them sighed with relief.

“Hey, it’s ok! You’re safe now!” Viktor told her with a gentle smile.

Her eyes fluttered open, and there was a moment of peace as she took in the fact that she’d managed to get out of the building. Viktor placed a hand on her shoulder, opening his mouth to ask for her name or any sort of details they could use to contact a family member.

Then her face contorted with pain and she began to scream.

“What…? What’s happening!?” Viktor looked confused.

“Viktor move!”

Before Mila could grab him, the girl burst into flames and they raced up Viktor’s arm. Before he even had a chance to react to the pain, Mila finally managed to get him away from her and shoot him with one of their extinguishing guns. His arms would be pretty badly scarred...but at least he was alive.

“She’s a Burnish?!” The redhead gasped, turning back to the woman.

“But...how could she be a Burnish?!” Viktor asked, getting to his feet whilst holding his arm.

“This could be her first spasm...that’s part of the mutation. Sometimes people just...awaken and can control fire. We need to put her out now!”

“ _ I got you guys! Stand back! _ ”

The two of them turned to see the Rescue Mobile’s canon pointing straight at them, more accurately the girl behind them, so the two quickly darted away so Yuri had a clear shot. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too painful for her and they could help her adjust to a normal life.

As soon as she was frozen, however, two large snakes made of fire melted the ice away. Viktor looked around to see what had caused them, just in time to see those two Mad Burnish members coming at them on Motorbikes. 

Fire circled them for a moment, but they didn’t attack. Instead, the smaller of the two pulled the girl onto the back of his bike, kept in place by some sort of strap.

“We’ll never let you take her! She’s one of us Burnish!” The bigger of them growled, revving his engine.

The two of them drove off, leaving a trail of flames in their wake... and a little confusion. Viktor had heard of these Inferno terrorists on the news and from Christophe, but seeing them in real life was infinitely more terrifying.

“Should we go after them?” He asked.

“Nah, we’d never be able to catch them now. Plus, it’s not our job.” Mila shrugged, turning to look at his arm. “Come on, we’d better get that looked at. It probably won’t need amputating, but we can put a sleeve on it to protect it.”

Viktor followed her back to where the others were waiting. His first day with Burning Rescue hadn’t gone at all like he’d imagined, but if every day was going to be like this, he could feel the excitement starting to burn in his core.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phichit and Seung-Gil manage to escape Freeze Force with Yuuko.  
> But unsurprisingly she's a little reluctant to accept her new life.

During the drive out to the settlement, both Phichit and Seung-Gil removed their armour. Partly because it would probably frighten the young lady who was currently draped over Seung-Gil’s back, partly because it could attract too much unwanted attention. 

“Wha...where…?” A voice made it over the rumble on their engines.

“Ah, good to see you’re awake. Don’t worry, you’re safe now.” Phichit grinned at her. 

“But...who are you…?” She asked again, shifting so she was in a more comfortable position.

“We’re like you. You don’t have to worry about a thing. What’s your name?” Seung-Gil explained, looking at her over his shoulder as they pulled up to the abandoned gas station.

“My...my name is Yuuko.” 

Phichit went on ahead to make room for their new arrival while Seung-Gil stayed back a little to help Thyma get off of his bike and guide her into what was going to her new home.

“I still don’t understand who you are!” She was obviously still getting used to the idea of what she was.

“Everyone here is a Burnish just like you. If Phichit and I hadn’t come for you when we did, those guys who froze you would have put you in a containment cell. It’s safer for us out here.” Maybe Seung-Gil wasn’t the best to be giving her the grand tour, but he’d already started so he saw no point in stopping.

“You’ve probably heard rumours about what the government does when they find any Burnish? Throw ‘em in captivity. Only it’s not a rumour.” Phichit sighed as they got closer, looking back to the nearly a hundred Burnish civilians they’d rescued. “From what we know...it’s a nightmare what those bastards do to us once they get us.”

“But…” She wrapped her arms around her chest. “But I’m not...My life was totally normal until today! I want to go home!  _ NOW! _ ”

Phichit and Seung-Gil watched as flames appeared in the girl’s hands, and in her panic, they ended up engulfing the two men in the oddly coloured flames. They saw her panic morph into shock as neither of them reacted with the pain-filled screams she expected them to.

“Hey, stay calm, yeah? We’re Burnish, remember that. The flames are a part of our being.” Seung-Gil crossed his arms, giving her a rare smile. “We feel better the more we burn. The harder we burn. Don’t you feel that?”

“Why…” She whispered. “Why did this have to happen to  _ me _ ? Why did I have to become Burnish?!”

“Beats me. Why did any of us become Burnish, you know?” Phichit sat on a knocked over gas pump. “I like to think it was fate that made these flames burst out of us. Whatever you believe though, this is something you gotta get used to. You can join Mad Burnish if you want! We’re always willing to accept new members! We’ll get you your own bike, and-”

The conversation was cut off by one of the lookouts above them knocking on the metal rafters keeping the barely-there roof up. Phichit and Seung-Gil looked up only to flinch as they saw a group of planes heading in their direction. 

“Ah hell...how did freeze force find us?” Phichit cursed.

“Who are they?” Yuuko asked.

“They’re a military unit...their only job is to find Burnish and bring them in. Unlike those guys in Burning Rescue...they won’t hesitate to kill us. Phichit, what do we do?” 

There was very little time to form an actual plan, but as Phichit’s eyes fell on the girl in front of him, he knew he had to do something...even it was a quick rush job. There was only one way they could all potentially get out of this alive.

“Alright. Yuuko, I need you to get everyone out the back door. We’re gonna distract them and keep their eyes off of you ok? I need you to trust us and focus on keeping everyone in that building safe. Just keep moving. We’ll come back for you.” 

There was a moment’s hesitation, but as quickly as it came it was replaced by a hardened resolution. Even if Yuuko didn’t accept that she was a Burnish yet, she could at least do what she could to keep these innocent people safe. The two men watched her run off, then materialised the armour and bikes, ready to take this fight as far away as they could get.

Before the planes could shoot any Freezing agents at them, one of their men detonated the explosives they’d hidden in their walls so they could make their escape. Phichit and Seung-Gil lead the charge, weaving across the desert to avoid any bullets.

The plan worked great...until one of the planes transformed into an armoured vehicle and ploughed into them. Most of them were knocked out by that move, but Phichit and Seung-Gil ended up being the only ones still standing as Freeze Force’s asshole of a lead climbed out.

“You know...using yourselves as bait so all your little friends could escape? A pretty admirable plan from a group of Inferno terrorists.” JJ Leroy sneered at them through his orange scanner. “What a shame it was all for nothing huh? We’ve already got ‘em all tied up!”

The two of them turned to see the remaining planes closing their doors on a whole bunch of frozen Burnish. They’d failed...they’d let all of those people down and now...they’d be tortured or even killed. Rage burned through Phichit’s veins, and he aimed a blast of fire at the main in front of him.

“YOU BASTARD!” Fire shot towards JJ...only for him to freeze it before it got anywhere near him.

“Nice try, you loudmouth Burnish.”

Before they could make another attempt at defending themselves, both Phichit and Seung-Gil found themselves frozen in blocks of ice. There was nothing they could do as JJ turned to the rest of their gang and pointed his gun at them too.

“Don’t even think about moving. One more step from any of you and these two will be shattered into god damn icicles.” 

It was a threat they didn’t even try to push, JJ Leroy didn’t seem like the type of guy to bluff...so the remaining members of Mad Burnish stayed still. If there was something they could do, none of them could think of it, that being said it was a little difficult to think at all over an odd humming sound that seemed to be getting louder...they were looking for a miracle now.

And a miracle is what they got.

What looked like an arrow made of Burnish flame plunged into the car behind JJ and flung it into the sky, knocking out most members of the Freeze Force who were keeping the Mad Burnish in place. Everyone turned to see a mass of flame sitting at the top of one of the sand cliffs behind JJ, though with the bright none of them could actually see who their saviour was. Not that it really mattered, when it was so obvious that whoever that person was, they were definitely a Burnish.

More arrows rained down, taking out pretty much everyone that was left with the exception of JJ himself before the mass of flame started riding down the cliff to take a more active part in this battle. It looked like a bike that was a combination of Phichit and Seung-Gil’s bikes, the seat of the former and the two wheels of the latter, and as it drove by the blocks of ice that were the Mad Burnish leaders, they began to melt.

“What the hell?!” Phichit looked around as he was finally able to move.

Even as JJ began to shoot, the bike didn’t stop, the flames surrounding it melting the ice before it could even touch the rider. For a moment there was silence, as JJ loaded a larger round and ended up freezing this mystery Burnish to a complete stop. The rider was only stopped for a moment before the heat of their fire melted through the iceberg and freed them, allowing them to send fire directly into JJ’s gun and destroy it.

They swerved round and came to a stop behind Phichit and Seung-Gil, and they finally got a clear look at the...boy...who saved them. He only said one word as he focused on the Freeze Force, all of whom were starting to point guns at him.

“Run.”

“Who the hell are you?!” Seung-Gil called to him, his voice not angry or defensive...more shocked.

Without blessing the Mad Burnish with a response, he once again fired round after round of Burnish arrows at the enemy, knocking them back and somehow managing to not kill them. They didn’t know whether he was doing this on purpose or not, but his accuracy was beyond impressive. 

“Alright! You’re dead meat now!” Phichit grinned manically, launching a ball of flame straight at JJ…

Only for this newcomer to shoot it off course.

“What the hell was that for, you ass!?” Phichit growled.

“We’re not killers. Leave them, follow me and they won’t come after us!”

The boy raised a hand and a wall of fire erupted between Mad Burnish and Freeze force, preventing the military group from following them no matter which way they decided to go. It wasn’t a total loss then...even though they’d allowed so many of their people to be captured.

Phichit wanted to fight back, wanted to chase after them to get Yuuko and the others back, but one look from Seung-Gil had him calming down. There was nothing they could do for now. Time to retreat and form a rescue plan...and time to find out who the hell this guy was.

“Fine.” He sighed.

After what felt like another ridiculously long ride, the guy who’d saved their asses finally came to a stop on a cliff overlooking the horizon. He immediately left them and walked off, but Phichit and Seung-Gil checked on their men before following him. They had many questions for this guy.

“Alright, tell us. Why’d you stop us huh?” Phichit raised an eyebrow, still curious as to why he hadn’t been allowed to kill Freeze Force. “We had a chance to make them pay for what they do to us! Or do you conveniently not know about that?”

“Like I said before, we don’t kill people.” Was all he said.

“Are you kidding? They came after us first! They go after any Burnish who just happens to exist! If we lie down and take it it’s gonna get worse!” 

“I never said anything about taking it!” The guy turned to them all, his hair flaring out around his head. “But what do you think would happen if we killed all of the Freeze force? People are afraid of us as it is, because they don’t understand what we are. How much more would they fear us if we went around killing too?”

They had no answer for that, but as true as it was it still kind of pissed them off to hear it from a guy they didn’t even know. But of course, he wasn’t done there.

“They’d start sending stronger armies after us! We’re already oppressed as it is, and you outlaws are just making things difficult for the few Burnish who manage to hold on to proper lives and jobs!”

“Alright then.” Phichit took a step towards him. “What do you think we should do? You seem to know everything!” 

“We create a city, we’ll find any Burnish who wants to join us and find a place for us to live peacefully with our own people.” He answered immediately.

That...wasn’t what they expected to hear. But the idea of a city for the Burnish to live in without fear, without having to worry about the threat from the government, sparked the feeling of hope that none of them had felt in a long time. Though of course Seung-Gil came in with the problem.

“What about the government. There’s no way we’d get permission!”

“Who gives a damn? We’re Burnish!” The boy lifted up his hand, and a flame ignited, small and controlled. “We have the power to do it ourselves. With these flames we can save those who were captured today, no matter what we’ll get them back.

We’ll fight against those who want to snuff out our flames, and we will live proudly as Burnish!”

Seung-Gil and Phichit shared a look, and smiled at each other, holding out a flame each towards this guy who spoke so passionately about their freedom. The three flames formed pillars reaching upwards, before coming together to form one large column of fire.

“Alright. We’ll follow you to the end then. I’m Phichit, and this is Seung-Gil. You are?"

“Yuuri...Yuuri Katsuki.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wild Yuuri appears!  
> We've also finished the events of the prequel episodes!  
> Next chapter we're getting into the main movie!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galo has been with Burning Rescue for a few months now, and he's really starting to feel like a part of the team.  
> But now it's time for his first authorized launch into battle.

A few months passed since Viktor’s first day, and in that time he gained lots of different experiences for different things the job required. He followed Otabek and Georgi around mostly, though it was clear that they weren’t exactly thrilled with the idea of babysitting him. One time he’d followed Mila up in her plane and helped her get some people off of a roof which was interesting. 

That being said, Yakov still wasn’t letting him do all that much, and as he lay on his back in the cabin of the Rescue Mobile, he wondered if he’d ever get to do more than follow the other members around. Sure Viktor had only been a part of the team for a month, which was nothing compared to the rest of them, but he really felt ready to get more involved with them.

These days were the worst though when they were all just sitting around waiting for something to do. He always felt awful for the people they rescued, but at the same time, if they weren’t in danger Burning Rescue wouldn’t have a job. Mila thought it was funny that he spent a lot of his downtime chilling in the Rescue Mobile, and although he always told her that it was so he could get familiar with the controls...it was more because he liked the peace and quiet it gave him.

A peace and quiet that was quickly interrupted by the alarm blaring. 

“Typical...just as I get comfortable it’s time to go to work!” He sighed, slowly trying to get himself up.

The door to the truck burst open as Yuri, Georgi and Otabek jumped into the truck without waiting for him to get up. By some miracle, they didn’t stand on him, and as soon as he was in his seat they were off to fight another fire.

“Can I actually get involved this time…?” Viktor grumbled.

“We’ll see. Don’t be impatient Viktor.” Yakov grumbled through his intercom.

From the radio, they got the information that this was another Burnish Fire, and even though his arm was pretty much healed, he still felt a twinge of discomfort as he caught sight of those flames. Otabek noticed and leaned over, shooting him a look that asked him if he was ok. Viktor nodded back, focusing on the words coming through to them.

“ _ We can’t handle this on our own! _ ” 

“Yeah, yeah keep your heads on! We’re almost there.” Yuri responded, as his cat (and the Burning Rescue team mascot) did a big yawn into the mic. “Captain, there’s a large group of people trapped on the 58th floor. It looks like that’s the center of the blaze.”

“Alright,” Yakov responded. “We don’t have time to stop, Otabek, Georgi, get ready for mobile launch!”

Viktor grumbled to himself about not going with them, as the two men gave Yuri a fist bump before they were lifted into the canon and launched into the building ahead of them. It only took the rest of them a few more minutes to arrive, but in those moments Georgi and Otabek were already well into their battle against the Burnish Flares. 

No matter how annoying Viktor thought the two of them were, he couldn’t help but admire their teamwork. They’d known each other for a long time, so the trust they had between them, Viktor could only hope to gain it one day.

Soon enough the two of them emerged from the window and were climbing down the building, the pods containing people safely on their back. All they had to do now was put out the rest of the fire. 

“Sir!” Mila’s voice this time came through the speakers. “The 58th-floor rescue is complete and they’re on their way down. I’ve located more people trapped up on the roof though! I can’t get close enough cause of Burnish Lightening! We’re gonna need Viktor up here and fast!”

The silver-haired man cheered silently, as Yuri made a comment about him finally getting his chance to shine. He was lifted into the canon as the Rescue Mobile shifted to launch him and his new gear up the side of the building, he couldn’t stop himself from leaning out of the side and waving to the people watching him.

Viktor could definitely feel his firefighter soul blazing!

“Stop messing around Viktor. You’re going up to the 108th floor!” Yakov yelled at him.

“But sir! I’m so excited! And look at this crowd!”

“Keep talking and you’ll bite your tongue!” 

That was the last thing Viktor heard before he was launched full speed out of the canon and up towards the roof where there were people waiting to be rescued. He was vaguely aware that he went straight past where he was meant to be landing, there was even a moment where he saw Mila’s plane, but then he quickly hit the floor of the roof with a loud thud.

“Is...he dead?” He heard one person ask.

“He’s gotta be dead!"

Viktor was very much not dead, just a little dazed, so he burst out of his containment unit, swinging his custom-built Matoi around with pride. Yuri had built it for him, and it came with loads of features that he was beyond excited to try out.

“No worries people! I am not dead! We’ll get you out of here as soon as possible!” He announced, trying to comfort the people staring at him.

“Viktor! Do your job and clear the smoke! I can’t get down there with it!” Mila yelled into his ear.

“Oh right!”

Once he’d remembered that he did have a job to do, Viktor pressed one of the buttons on his new Matoi and pointed it towards the sky, blades appeared and began to spin, acting like a giant fan to blow the smoke away so Mila could get down onto the roof. She was finally able to land and pick up all the people, but that was when Yuri began to yell at him.

“Viktor, watch out behind you! There’s a strong Burnish signal in the smoke behind you! It could be the source of the whole thing!”

Not needing to say anything, Viktor turned and brought the Matoi round to blow away the smoke hiding whatever...or whoever...had started this fire. If they attacked immediately he may be in trouble with his basic rescue gear, but if he had the chance, he could always resort to his secret weapon. 

On the roof above him were two very familiar figures, the armor he recognized as the two members of Mad Burnish they’d fought when his arm got messed up. The one in the middle he didn’t know, he hadn’t been there before, was he new?

The two he recognized formed their bikes and jumped on to them, revving their engines like a way to intimidate him. Not that it worked, since Viktor rode his own bike. He waited for the man in the middle to jump on a bike, but all he did was form a chair out of hardened flames and sit down, legs spread, head in his hand and looking like he owned the place. If they weren’t in the middle of a situation, he’d have found the pose very attractive.

As it was, he didn’t have time to be thinking about that stuff, not with Yakov barking in his ear.

“Viktor! Do not engage. Those are the three most powerful members of Mad Burnish! You’re in no way equipped to fight against them! Wait until backup gets here!”

“So...that’s the boss huh…?” Viktor looked up at them.

“Viktor, don’t even think about it!” Mila’s face appeared in the corner of his screen.

“You need to get out of here Mila, get those people down to the ground. I’ll keep them occupied!”

Despite the grumbling coming from Mila about leaving him, she knew the rescue operation took priority, so she guided her plane back into the air and down the side of the building. That left it as a three on one fight, not fantastic odds but if there was one thing Viktor had, it was a burning undying optimism. 

“Don’t do anything stupid, Viktor.” Mila sighed.

“You do realize this is Viktor we’re talking to?” Georgi chimed in, deciding to get in on roasting him.

“It’s my job as a firefighter to take care of whatever is burning! And that includes these three!” He pointed the Matoi at them.

The two he’d seen before drove towards him, and using the Matoi he shot several rounds of cooling agents at the wheels in an attempt to stop them from moving. All that served was to make the bigger one slightly stumble, on his way to rip the arm of Viktor’s gear off. As much as that pissed him off, what pissed him off more was the smaller guy coming on his other side to get the other arm.

“Is that all you got after all that talk?!” The smaller one taunted him as the two bikes surrounded Viktor in flames.

Well...if there was going to be a time to use his secret weapon, then this was the time! He turned on his intercom and grinned to himself.

“Yuri! It’s time to pull that thing out!” He heard the smaller man giggle and press a series of buttons.

“All yours Viktor. It’s set up and ready to go!” 

“Awesome!” 

Viktor launched the Matoi stick into the air, where it landed in a small notch in the back of his gear. It took a minute for the gear to be fully operational but soon the orange metal was replaced by a sleek white material. 

Did it make sense for the two Mad Burnish members to stand there watching this? Absolutely not, but maybe they were just so amazed by his Matoi Tech that they were frozen solid?! That made his chest swell with pride! 

A small projector, controlled by Yuri down below, turned on and allowed Viktor to tell them about what his armor was and what it represented. He was very proud of it, and had rehearsed a lot for the very first time he’d be able to give it. Though the two members on his level seemed to be discussing how much of an idiot he was, he noticed that the leader was staring at him with...curiosity? He couldn’t tell...but he didn’t let how that unnerved him show.

“You can’t do what you want anymore! You pyromaniac bastards!” He heard the other yelling at him not to provoke him.

The one in the larger armor sent fire flying towards him, but with the increased speed, his Matoi Tech gave him it was almost too easy to dodge! Using his stick he froze the large armored Burnish until he was completely frozen, though he didn’t stay in there long, as Viktor himself broke him out to restrain him with ice around his neck, wrists, and ankles. 

“One down!” He grinned, turning to the other one.

“Phichit! Dammit!” The bike turned and drove straight for Viktor.

Viktor jammed his stick into the wheel of his bike, sending him flying so that he could give him the same treatment as his friend. Now that he got a good look at the two of them, they were both surprisingly thin, well they were terrorists...and that probably meant they didn’t get to eat that much. A small pang of sympathy hit him in the chest, but he had to push it down to remind himself what he was meant to be doing.

“Alright big boss! Your turn! Why don’t you get off your high horse and come fight me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY HOLIDAYSSS!!!  
> This is going up a day early because it's christmas tomorrow and I'm gonna be spending time with my family.  
> But we will get to Viktor's fight with the Mad Burnish Boss next week :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor takes on the Big Boss of Mad Burnish.  
> Though he discovers, the terrifying Inferno Terrorist is not how he initially imagine!

He seemed to consider Viktor's statement for a moment, then allowed the fire to guide him off of his chair and onto an admittedly very cool bike. Viktor really wished he had time to admire it, but the Mad Burnish leader was coming straight for him...so no.

There was no time to move, and the bike ended up hitting him so hard that he went flying, the only reason he didn’t fall off entirely was the fact that he jammed his Stick into the ground. He took a minute to compose himself, then launched back into the fight, glaring at the...man? Woman? Viktor didn’t know...person in front of him.

“You attacked me during my pose?! What kind of person does that?!” Viktor yelled at him.

“Stop playing around Viktor! This guy is dangerous!” He heard an exchange between Yakov and Yuri, but tried to stay focused.

“Look Viktor!” Yuri interrupted their captain. “Just stay cool! He’s trying to piss you in! Don’t give him what he wants!”

“I’m fine Yuri!”

Viktor watched as the Mad Burnish leader began to spin around on his bike keeping his eyes on the firefighter as he turned. Viktor was totally calm as he prepared to fight this guy...until he saw him beckon him closer as if to say ‘come at me’.

“Hey! Quit messing with me!” 

“Nice job staying calm…”

Yuri’s face disappeared from his monitor as the bike rammed into him again, sending them both flying over the side of the building, but of course, his flames allowed them to shoot off away from the fire they’d started, and Viktor wasn’t letting them get away from this that easy.

He managed to use his Matoi to propel himself along several buildings, before finally jumping into one of the emergency hydrants built into the side of the building and using it to launch himself into the Mad Burnish leader, knocking him off of the bike and back towards the building they started at. They ended up where the three of them had started this whole thing, and Viktor pulled a chain on his stick to start up a chain saw with the blades made of Anti-burnish material.

In response, the person in front of him formed a sword out of hardened flames.

“Finally...one on one!” Viktor took several steps forward. “Tell me, do you find it fun burning down people’s houses?”

“It’s not about being fun, the flames are a part of us!” The person finally spoke.

His voice was deep, but not entirely masculine, Viktor had never heard a voice like it before. He didn’t have time to dwell on it though, as he found himself in a sword fight with the Mad Burnish leader, the two of them trying to get any sort of hit on the other.

“You just don’t get it! If we don’t burn, we die! That’s what it means to be a Burnish!”

“The only thing that should be burning is your soul! If you keep burning like this, I’ll have no choice but to put your flames out!”

The Burnish jumped back, and Viktor prepared to run at him, only for him to shove the firefighter off of the roof again. He’d have fallen all the way to the bottom, if he hadn’t had the idea to launch himself through the closest window, shooting ice up through the floor in an attempt to get any sort of hit on him. 

He couldn’t see if any of the shots landed, the ceiling was in the way, but with the way, the Burnish Flares kept coming it was obvious his opponent wasn’t out for the count just yet. He came to a stop under a large hole in the roof above him, just as a large explosion sent ice raining down to him. Thinking fast, Viktor placed the little projector just underneath the hole and waited until he saw the point of the Mad Burnish’s sword appear. He sent the tiny machine up and quickly rushed up the stairs next to him. 

As soon as he reached the window he smashed through it and knocked the man to the side, sending him off balance enough the Viktor had room to stop and shoot restraints at him. All he really succeeded in doing is smashing a piece of the helmet mask, although he was shocked to see what this guy looked like.

Blazing brown eyes glared out at him from under a shock of black hair, and for...not the first moment during this fight, Viktor found himself forgetting what he was doing. This man was...insanely attractive! So not fair that he had to be a terrorist! 

Shit! Focus Nikiforov! Focus!

“ _ You’re  _ the leader of Mad Burnish? You’re a kid! Ah-” 

Due to his staring at the Mad Burnish leader, he’d failed to notice that the arm of his suit had caught fire. What seemed like a tiny flame ended up blowing off both arms of his suit, and the Burnish quickly began to take care of the rest with his sword.

“Like you’re one to talk.” He hissed, his voice even softer when it wasn’t hindered by his mask. “If you don’t want to die, get out of my way! The Burnish don’t kill unless we’re forced to!”

Piece by piece, Viktor’s Matoi Tech came apart and each step brought him closer to the edge of the roof. Eventually, he fell flat on his ass, completely stripped of any of his gear. At this point, he could only rely on-

“That’s enough.” He scowled, pointing his sword at the firefighter’s chest. “You’re unarmed, and...naked.” 

“Take it all in, you little Pyromaniac! You’ve forgotten one crucial thing.” He grinned, making sure the Burnish’s eyes stayed on him. “I’m...no, we...are a rescue  _ team _ .”

As if on cue, the rest of his team finally made it to join the fight, Otabek shooting at him whilst Mila kept an eye on him from the sky. By pure skill, the Burnish managed to block each shot, eventually leaping out of the way as Georgi rose up from behind Viktor and tried to crush him beneath one of his support claws. However, that move only put him in Mila’s path, and she used the wing of the plane to knock him back down to Viktor’s level, getting the blade of the firefighter’s stick stuck in the shoulder of his armor. 

Perfect.

“YURI NOW!”

All of the pieces of Viktor’s gear came flying back together, and although the Burnish tried to fight them off, in the end, it was futile. He was effectively trapped in the Matoi gear, rapidly cooling so even his armor disappeared in the steam. Only the young man’s face was visible, and Viktor quickly kicked his prison open so he could restrain him like he’d restrained his friends. Viktor had assumed the leader of Mad Burnish was taller than him, but he was actually significantly shorter, in fact, he didn’t look all that threatening in general.

“You look surprised! I don’t get naked for just anyone you know?” Viktor smirked, approaching his captured enemy with a smirk.

“The thought didn’t cross my mind.” 

“How about you remember the name of the firefighter who brought you down! The firefighter with the burning soul! Viktor Nikiforov! You got that Firebug?” 

“The name’s Yuuri Katsuki...not Firebug.” 

Yuuri...somehow the name suited him, and the little pout on his face at such a strange nickname only had Viktor grinning more. Now that the armor had gone, Viktor noticed that his prisoner was wearing a surprisingly fancy outfit for a terrorist, a frilly shirt under a leather jacket and matching leather pants, with thigh-high boots that were also made out of leather. A ridiculous amount of leather for a guy who controlled  _ fire _ but who was Viktor to judge? He looked great though.

The smaller man was staring at him with a completely blank expression that was probably hiding a multitude of emotions that Viktor wished he was privy to. He wanted to know why this Burnish thought that it was ok to act so recklessly, what drove him to burn more powerfully than any soul he’d seen.

The thing was, as much as the Firefighter hated to admit it...he was probably the most powerful Burnish he’d ever encountered.

Before he could think anymore, a heavy metal claw almost crushed his head as it smacked him. With a look that screamed of how offended he was, Viktor turned to see Georgi staring at him with a look of passive disapproval.

“Don’t get too cocky rookie.” He huffed, looking around at the damage to the building as the rest of the flames were put out.

“God look at your suit, idiot!” Yuri groaned through the speaker. “Couldn’t you have been more careful!? I put a lot of time into that!”

“Come on! I bet you got loads of great fight data from that! You should be thanking me!” Viktor whined, flinching as Otabek joined them since he thought the other man was going to hit him too.

“You should hit him again, otherwise he’ll always be an idiot!” Mila cackled as she stepped out of her plane, stretching.

Viktor began to whine again, all five of them completely forgot that there were three terrorists lying not far from them when the steam started to shift and a large...what looked like a flying car landed nearby. Yakov had just come up to join them, and Viktor couldn’t miss when the old man groaned as an immense block of a man stepped out. On closer inspection, it was obvious that it was his armor that made him look that big, Viktor figured he was probably a noodle like Yuuri when he wasn’t wearing it.

“Colonel Leroy. To what do I owe the...pleasure?” 

“You Burning Rescue kids did a great job!” Leroy sneered as he walked by. “We’ll take care of these terrorists for you!”

Sending another sneer in Yuuri’s direction, he smashed the ice away from the Burnish’s wrists and ankles to replace them with freezing rings that made Viktor flinch a little. Should Yuuri decide to light up and defend himself...they’d instantly freeze his entire body. It felt a little...cruel.

“You know, it must be hard work with such old gear.” Leroy continued to prove himself to be a dick as he taunted Georgi and Otabek, both of whom stayed silent as he walked away to pack up his team. “But that  _ is _ why Burnish Crimes are dealt with by Freeze Force.”

“Oh yeah, take credit for our work, real classy.” Viktor hissed, standing with Mila and scowling as they passed.

“Shut up, you idiot!” Mila whispered, her eyes widening as Leroy turned back to them.

The huge man turned to regard Viktor and what he’d said, before breaking out of the line and coming to stare at the silver-haired man like he’d stepped on a snail...or something else kinda gross.

“So it was you. You were the one that caught this guy?” 

“And what if it was huh?”

Before Viktor had any chance of defending himself, a metal hand clenched around his chin and lifted him into the air. With any ordinary person, they’d probably be begging for their life, but Viktor continued to glare at the man who could crush his face in an instant like he was an annoyance.

“You’re under arrest, kid!” Leroy snarled.

“What?! What did I do!?” 

“It’s against the law for a civilian to deal with a terrorist! You could have caused a major disaster if we hadn’t shown up! I can’t overlook such reckless behavior!” 

“ _ My  _ behavior!? It’s the Burnish behavior that you should be focusing on! All I did was stop them from blowing everything up!” His voice cracked in his outrage.

“Yeah yeah! You can plead your case in court!” 

“Hang on a minute, Leroy!” Yakov appeared from nowhere, putting himself between the two. “Burning Rescue are authorized to deal with the Burnish in emergency situations!” 

“And yet, that decision is mine to make! Isn’t that right Feltsman.” There was an unbearable tone of condescension in his voice.

“Tell me, what is the legitimacy of that decision? Should I add it to my report?”

The Colonel of the Freeze Force stared down at Yakov, and Yakov stared back coolly. For a moment it looked like neither of them were going to back down from this, but after a while Leroy dropped Viktor to the floor, the silver-haired man rolling and holding his face, before smirking.

“Come on, can’t any of you take a joke?” He laughed, walking away towards Yuuri, who had stayed silent while all of that went down. 

“What a ridiculous power struggle. Public officials are so useless…” He hissed, flicking his hair out of his eyes.

All of Burning Rescue flinched, though, as Leroy punched Yuuri hard in the face only to physically kick him into the waiting truck with the other two leaders as he mumbled about the dark-haired man having a big mouth. It was unnecessarily brutal, but none of them were particularly in a position to tell him to stop...and soon Freeze Force was gone as suddenly as they came.

“Looks like he was just trying to burn off some steam...Fucking asshole.” Yakov muttered, straightening his hat that got ruffled in the wind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR!  
> Also part two of the big fight between Yuuri and Viktor!  
> It split surprisingly well!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor receives a medal for his services to Promepolis.  
> Yuuri puts his plan into action.

When they got back to HQ, after making sure that everyone was ok and that all of the fires were out, Yakov disappeared to his office since the phone was already ringing. Typical that they just got back and his attention was already being demanded again.

Otabek, Yuri and Georgi went about making sure the tech wasn’t too badly damaged, Yuri muttering a stream of profanity about Viktor being an idiot for breaking his new suit on its first use, which left the silver-haired man to sit on the couch with Mila. He felt like all the adrenaline had left his body after not only a pretty intense fight but Colonel Leroy being an asshole too...he was even more beat than usual. 

“What a shift...huh Mila?” He chuckled, throwing his arm over his eyes.

“Wouldn’t have been as hard on you if you’d waited for us, instead of taking on all three leaders of Mad Burnish on your own, dummy.” She elbowed him.

“I didn’t have time to wait. They’d have probably burnt me alive if I didn’t…” But that thought trailed off.

Yuuri had said himself that he didn’t kill people without reason, and each time they dealt with a Mad Burnish attack, he’d noticed that it felt pretty easy to actually get the people out. There was always a path for them to take, one that the fire would never touch.

“Eh, I don’t think they’d have gone that far. I mean who wants to look at a roasted idiot.”

He groaned again, only to have it cut off by Yakov throwing the door open with an unnecessarily loud bang.

“Viktor? Come up here, will you? The Governor’s on the phone.”

“Gov Chris?” Viktor looked up in confusion, before heading up there. “What does he want?”

“To give you a medal for being a reckless idiot. I don’t know Viktor, I’m not a mind reader.” He huffed, holding the phone out.

“Uh...hello?” The silver-haired man raised an eyebrow at his captain, who simply shrugged again.

“Viktor! Hello, I’m glad you’re there! I just heard about what happened today at the Pharmaceutical building! I’m very proud of you!”

“O-oh! Sir, thank you so much! It’s an honour to hear that from you!” 

“It’s well deserved. Seeing as you were the one to finally take down those Mad Burnish miscreants, I am arranging to give you a medal for your service to the city. Just wanted to let you know!”

“Wha...but Gov Chris, I don’t...I’m just a-!” 

“I won’t take any arguments Viktor! You deserve it! Come to the main Foresight Foundation office building at midday. And make sure you’re in your formal uniform.” 

“Oh uh...sure thing. I’ll be there!”

With that, the Governor hung up on him, leaving Viktor to stare at the phone with wide eyes. He handed it back to Yakov slowly, most of his focus on trying to drop it and break it.

“So? What did he want?” Yakov asked, not even realising the irony of the situation.

“You’re not gonna believe me captain...but he wants to give me a medal!” 

***

The journey to the Freeze Force HQ was uncomfortable at best. The whole back of the van had a steady flow of cold air being pumped in, probably to keep their body temperatures down and prevent any flares, but Yuuri wasn’t dumb enough to set anything on fire with the rings around his wrists. Still, so far everything was going according to plan. Phichit sent him a look from where he was sitting, a comforting look that affirmed that everything was fine, Seung-Gil following it with a crooked smile.

That was why he’d come to consider these two his best friends, they knew when he was uneasy.

Other than the cold that they couldn’t really feel, the journey wasn’t that bad, and soon they were being dragged out of the trunk and into the building. From what little he could see, there was snow covering the walls and floors, so there was no chance of starting a fight here...they needed to wait until they were inside anyway.

The three of them were escorted through the corridors, up several flights of stairs until they arrived at one of several frozen cells. It was brutal, cruel and made Yuuri sick...but he had to put on a brave face for now. Giacometti would pay for this sooner or later. The door slid open to reveal several people curled up in the corners of the room, all of them were bandaged in one way or another, some more than others.

Yuuri’s eyes widened in horror, but before he could really process he was shoved to the floor of the cell, Phichit and Seung-Gil ending up on top of him as the door closed.

“Hey, wait!” Yuuri called, but it was too late.

“HEY! HE TOLD YOU TO WAIT ASSHOLE!” Phichit shrieked as he got to his feet, bursting into flames only to be quickly frozen. 

That guy was way too emotional for his own good sometimes, but as the frozen block that was his friend fell and broke, freeing him again. He noticed Seung-Gil rolling his eyes, but the fond smile was undeniable. Cute, but not quite the time for it.

“I wouldn’t keep that up if I were you…” A strained voice drew their attention to the wall, where an old man sat with his wrists in freezing rings and a bandage on his head. “You’ll only freeze your limbs off.”

“It would seem so…” Yuuri sighed, looking around at the people who looked so...helpless.

“Uuh...hey, boss?” Seung-Gil nudged him gently, pointing over to one particular corner. 

It looked like the people who had been treated the worst had gathered in that spot, but what stunned Phichit when he followed Yuuri’s gaze, was the head of brown hair sticking out from bandages wrapping around the head. It was all too familiar to him and Seung-Gil, and though Yuuri had only seen her from a distance, he still recognised her as the girl the other two had saved just before the Freeze Force raid he’d saved them from. Her name was Yuuko if he remembered right.

“Look at them…” Phichit’s voice cracked.

“My god…” That was Seung-Gil, looking just as heartbroken.

“So the rumours were right.” Yuuri hissed, eyes narrowing. “This is sick.”

“For a long time...you were our only hope of freedom.” The old man told them, his voice hollow and sad. “But now that you’re here...well...what’s left for us?”

Yuuri looked over his shoulder at the man, somewhat surprised that he was still able to talk given his age. He’d have thought he’d be much quieter, like that girl and the guy next to her. But before he could really question it, he noticed Yuuko reaching for him, as she’d just noticed he was there. For a moment he didn’t know what to do, for once he was genuinely unsure, luckily Phichit spotted her too and nudged him gently.

“Boss...go on.” He whispered so none of the others could hear.

After taking a deep breath, the Burnish leader dropped to his knees and held her hand, because what other kind of comfort could he give her but that? He was vaguely aware of Phichit and Seung-Gil crouching next to him, but all he could do was focus on this poor young woman.

“What did we do…” She whispered. “What have we done...to deserve this…?”

If Yuuri could have given her an answer, he would have done in a heartbeat. But in the end, all he could do was squeeze her hand a little tighter and try not to cry.

***

Meanwhile, what easily felt like a million miles away, a silver-haired young man was celebrating receiving his medal with his friends. The ceremony hadn’t been too extravagant, simply Governor Giacometti introducing him, then thanking him for stopping the threat Mad Burnish posed to their everyday lives. Through the whole thing, Viktor had beamed with pride at what he and his team had managed to accomplish, even though he was the only one accepting a medal it felt more like he was receiving it on behalf of the whole time.

Not even an hour after Giacometti had let him go, they were finally outside of their favourite Pizza restaurant. The owner, Michele, had taken on a young man named Emil to help with the workload that came with Viktor and Georgi visiting the establishment, but the pizza was still fantastic.

Five pairs of eyes lit up on not one, but four pizzas were placed in front of them.

“Here we go!” Michele grinned. “Your Inferno Volcano Margherita Megamax!” 

All five of them quickly grabbed a slice of pizza and bit into it, their groans of adoration indicating that this was, in fact, the food of the goods and they’d descended into heaven. 

“Uuugh, this is so good! So fresh too, straight from the oven!” Viktor groaned, ignoring Mila’s elbow to the ribs for talking with his mouth full.

“There’s more on the way if you want them.” The Italian smiled, placing drinks on the table too.

“You get it just right every time! How do you manage it?” Yuri asked, genuinely intrigued. 

“I got myself an assistant who cares about Pizza as much as I do is all. He’s doing a great job.”

They all turned to see the sandy-haired man pulling another customer’s pizza out of the oven, a look of intense focus on his face until he noticed them all watching. At which point he smiled and nodded in their direction.

“Hey Viktor, I saw you on tv earlier! Can’t tell you how proud I was to see my best customer up there!”

“Oh, when I got this?” Viktor poked the medal that was resting on his chest. “It was nothing really! In all honesty, I was kind of embarrassed.”

“You shouldn’t be! Those terrorists were seriously a pain in the ass. Mad Burnish was it?” Michele shook his head and fiddled with his apron. “Really...they gave such a bad name to those Burnish just trying to live normal lives. It’s such a relief to know their boss was finally caught.”

“Right on the money there, Michele.” Yuri sighed, fiddling with a pizza crust.

“The Burnish are just misunderstood. How can people blame them just for existing?” Mila hissed, out of all of them, she was the one most visibly bothered by the discrimination.

“It’s just a mutation when it comes down to it. Something in the genetics of a person. It says nothing about their character or personality.” Otabek explained, ignoring Yuri quietly calling him a nerd.

“Well, whether it’s Burnish or a simple house fire, you can count on me for any fire in town!” Viktor grinned, trying to lighten the mood a little he pressed a finger to his medal. “I swear on this medal!”

A couple of people on the surrounding tables cheered for him, encouraging him to do his best and such. With an almost awkward laugh, Viktor waved to them, but he couldn’t escape the sceptical look on Mila’s face.

“Ok sure. But did you really have to wear the damn thing to get  _ pizza _ ?” She wasn’t jealous, she just thought the silver-haired man was being a little extra.

“Well...I want people to know they can rely on me.” The young man fiddled with the wrist of his medical sleeve on his burnt arm. “It means a lot to me, especially when Gov Giacometti got to give it to me.”

All four watched the whimsical look on Viktor’s face as he turned to look at one of the large digital posters for Foresight Industries. He couldn’t help it, after everything he’d been through as a kid...Christophe Giacometti was still a constant.

“Didn’t he save your life or something?” Yuri asked, only really hearing from rumours how Viktor knew their Governor.

“Yeah...he wasn’t much older than me when he got me out that fire. He even lost his arm...just to save a kid he didn’t even know. It’s seriously incredible how quickly he gained fame after that.” Viktor sighed softly.

The five firefighters and the Pizzeria owner looked up at the various advertisements on the more high tech buildings, making people want to buy various fire extinguishing equipment to keep their homes safe. Sometimes it did come off as a little Anti-Burnish, but he was certain Giacometti didn’t intend it to be that way.

“He invented so much of the stuff we use...no wonder he’s a billionaire  _ and  _ city Governor despite being so young.” Yuri hissed, failing to hide the note of jealousy.

“You say that like you couldn’t easily make money off the stuff you make for Viktor to mess around with.” Otabek teased, poking the young blonde.

“Pff. That kind of shit is just heresy, my tech isn’t meant for making money.” He shrugged as if money didn’t matter to him at all. 

“You literally sound like a mad scientist!” Mila cackled until Yuri threw her a harsh glare.

“Call me all you want, but your girlfriend is exactly the same!” 

One of the digital ads changed as if on cue, to show a woman with long dark hair and purple eyes talking passively about...warp engines it seemed. None of them really understood the work themselves, even Otabek and Lucia found that kind of science went over their heads, but Mila’s eyes filled with admiration as she watched the girl talk about her life’s work.

“Yeah...I guess she is.” The redhead smiled.

“I’m really grateful to Gov Giacometti…” Viktor finally spoke up again, drawing all their attention. “If it wasn't for him I wouldn’t be a rescuer...and I wouldn’t have met all of you. I have to pay him back for that.”

For a moment, the whole team softened at Viktor’s earnest expression of friendship, he was usually so boisterous and loud that they missed these moments even when they were there. That quickly dissipated when he called for another Pizza and dug straight into it, ignoring Otabek’s question as to who was paying for all of these Megamax’s.

Of course, this time of relaxation and pizza eating came to an abrupt end, when what felt like a tornado ripped down the street the pizza place was on. All five Burning Rescue members looked up and grimaced, as none other but Colonel Leroy was leaning out of one of his fancy flying cars.

“What the hell are Freeze Force doing here!?” Viktor jumped to his feet, ignoring Mila’s hand on his arm.

“Nobody move!” The Colonel snarled, ducking into the main building. “If anyone so much as twitches, I’ll consider you a Burnish!”

“God these people are just trying to enjoy their food! Can you not be an ass for five minutes and let them do that?!” The silver-haired man pushed past Leroy’s men to scowl at him.

“Shut up and watch, firefighter!” He grabbed Viktor by the collar to make sure he couldn’t move.

He opened his mouth to start yelling again, when he noticed the two guys he’d passed earlier aim their weapons at Michele’s new assistant, Emil. The poor man looked absolutely petrified, but at the same time, it looked as if he was trying to reach for something. Both men kept telling him to stop moving, but of course, that just made him panic more.

“N-no! Stay away from me!” He gasped, plunging his hand into the pizza oven fire.

Viktor tried to run to help him, but Leroy’s grip on his t-shirt left him helplessly watching as Emil turned the flames into a familiar purple colour and spread them through the building, somehow not burning any of the people inside or the furniture. Still...Viktor was stunned.

“He’s a...Burnish?” He whispered.

In a move that could easily be called excessive, Leroy and his two men fired round after round of extinguishing ice at Emil until he was bound by the neck, wrists and ankles. Viktor knew they had to use that ice to protect people and buildings...but it almost hurt to see the pizza guy covered in that much ice.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing? All he wanted to do was make Pizza!” Michele put himself between Freeze Force and Emil, bravely defending his employee.

“Did you know what he was?” Leroy sneered at him, knowing the answer even without waiting.

“Boss…” Emil groaned before his boss could answer, the owner moved to crouch beside him. “It’s ok...really…”

“Like hell it is! All you wanted to do is make pizza! What kind of crime is that?” Viktor’s heart broke at the exchange.

“Alright, you’re both under arrest! Shut this place down immediately!” Leroy ordered, but the last straw was when he pointed his weapon at Michele.

“Wait just one goddamn second!” Viktor growled.

He brushed Leroy’s hand off of his shirt and jumped on the table to meet him eye to eye. As big and intimidating the Colonel’s armour made him, there was no way the silver-haired man was scared of him.

“Sure Emil’s a Burnish, but he wasn’t doing anything wrong! Just working. And Michele had nothing to do with anything either!”

“Might wanna check your knowledge of the law firefighter! Harbouring a Burnish is in direct violation of the Burnish Protection Crime Act. It’s in the name!” Leroy smirked like he knew everything.

For a minute Viktor thought that was it, but thankfully Mila came to his rescue...though she did it by practically standing on him.

“You’re wrong there Colonel! That law only applies when it comes to terrorists like those associated with Mad Burnish! This guy is so obviously not a terrorist!” Viktor found himself thankful that she knew the law better than him.

“That’s for the court to decide! Not a little girl!” 

Then, before either of them knew it, Leroy was flying away with both Michele and Emil in his van. The whole situation had Viktor’s stomach-turning so bad that he couldn’t even think of the pizza’s he’d abandoned on the table.

But of course, it couldn’t just end there.

“Ugh, this was made by a Burnish?!”

“Oh! How disgusting!”

“They may as well have fed us trash!”

The voices of angry customers reached his ears, and a flare of anger rose up in him at the way they were suddenly grossed out by the pizza just because Emil was Burnish. He wasn’t about to let them get away with that, but just as he opened his mouth, Mila was resting a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“What the hell, Mila?” He asked, looking at her in shock.

“I know. I’m mad too, but this isn’t the time, Viktor. Trust me.” She mumbled, pulling him a little away from the other customers.

“It’s bullshit, we know...but we can’t tell them what to think.” Otabek patted his back.

It didn’t help to calm him down though, and after a moment of tapping his foot and doing some deep breathing, he cursed loudly and ran over to his bike, hopping on it to go to his special place to cool off. Even though he could hear the rest of them telling him to stop, he kept going. There was nothing he could do when his head was like this...but once he’d chilled a little bit...then he could plan.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor cools off by the lake, but notices something interesting.  
> Yuuri tries to keep his people safe, and realises that there are some people really that naive.

Back in the fortress surrounded by ice, Yuuri Katsuki sat between his two best friends, biding their time. They had a plan, and he intended to stick to it, especially since one wrong move...the slightest error in timing could get not only them killed, but the Burnish they were trying to rescue too. Part of him wanted to take this moment of silence to clarify the plan one more time, but he knew that would be dangerous...after all, he didn’t know if they had cameras in their cell.

Fortunately, it was almost with perfect timing that the door slid open and two guards demanded they come with them to be moved. Yuuri had hoped they’d come sooner, but better late than never he supposed. All three of them stood, giving reassuring smiles to the Burnish who didn’t know their plans and followed the guards out and down the halls. This complacency didn’t last long, however.

“Phichit…” He hissed. “Seung-Gil.”

“Yes, boss.” They both responded without him needing to turn back.

“Here we go then.”

Setting their plan into motion, Yuuri used his complete control over the flames in his body to set his hands and only his hands on fire. This triggered the freezing rings, but before they could properly freeze him his fire was thawing them again. It was a cyclical battle, just waiting for the right moment when his flames won out.

Which they inevitably did.

Yuuri smirked as the beeping of the malfunctioning rings caught the guards' attention and they turned back to see them slip neatly off of the Burnish Leader’s wrists. Naturally, they immediately raised their guns, but before either of them could pull the trigger Yuuri had grabbed them and let his hands heat up around the metal.

“The Burnish will be freed. I won’t let the Foresight Foundation hold us any longer!”

With that statement, Yuuri blew the guns out of their hands before quickly knocking them out and getting his friends out of their own rings, to which even Seung-Gil looked immensely happy to see. The two of them picked up the guns and looked to him for instructions. 

As if they didn’t know what came next.

“Go free the others, I’ll handle the guards. Just make sure you don’t kill anyone!” He told them, turning his back to them as more guards approached.

“Yeah, yeah we got it! Make sure you don’t die on us boss!” Phichit called as they shot off back towards the cells.

“I don’t plan on it.” Yuuri smiled as he sprinted into action.

The next few minutes went by so fast that Yuuri wasn’t confident it hadn’t actually been a few seconds. To buy his friends more time, he created a wall of fire that blocked the guards off from the rest of the corridor, knowing they’d be too afraid to pass through it and stop him from pressing the button that unlocked all of the cells at once.

He had to hope that Phichit and Seung-Gil would be able to get the Burnish to the helicopter he’d seen on the way in, but he trusted them to carry out their mission. Yuuri trusted them with his life after all, so this was debatably less of a challenge.

Leaving the guards to struggle behind the wall, he ran down the next corridor, only to be caught by surprise, which was something rare. Some intelligent mastermind had decided to try and take him down by squeezing a car down the already narrow hallway, not even stopping when he took out at least two of his coworkers on his way. 

“So annoying…” He hissed, more that this was hindering escape to the helicopter than that they were actually trying to kill him now. 

There was no way he could get past the car by going over or around it, and even though he knew it was risky, there was no choice for him to go under. Yuuri ran for the car and he managed to slip straight under, taking out one of the tires as he went by. It ended up smashing into the wall and blocking off anyone who came from that direction, but that left Yuuri’s way free to get up to the roof.

“Boss! ‘Bout time, I thought we were gonna have to come to get you!” Phichit grinned, waving as Seung-Gil helped the last person on board.

“You two go with them. I’ll try and draw their attention away if they try to chase after us.” Yuuri fiddled with his glove, keeping an eye out in case they gave chase sooner than he anticipated.

“You know where we’re headed right? You’ll be ok?” Seung-Gil frowned, obviously worried about his leader.

“I’ll be fine! Now go!”

Without another moment’s hesitation, Phichit pulled the other Mad Burnish member into the cockpit of the helicopter and started it up, the blades slowly pulling them all into the sky. Yuuri on the other hand was given another opportunity to display how powerful he was, by pushing his flames out of his hands and shooting himself into the sky. He took the time to go in a different direction to the rest of them though, it’d be bad if he led Freeze Force directly to his people after all.

***

When Mila finally caught up to Viktor, having to hop on her own bike to follow, she was more than a little surprised to see him standing at the edge of a huge frozen lake. It wasn’t somewhere that she’d ever known had existed, never mind that Viktor knew about it enough to just come whenever he wanted.

“Whoa...what is this place Viktor?” She asked, sliding off her bike and moving to stand next to him.

“Honestly, I really don’t know.” He laughed when she sent him a questioning look. “I was just riding around one day, I think I was pissed off about something, who knows. But yeah, I found this place, so now I just come here.”

“Somewhere like this, that’s so secluded? I’m surprised anyone would even think to look out here. Well...you’d need a load of spare energy to do that.” Mila laughed.

“Ok, if that’s what you think, why are you here?” Viktor raised an eyebrow at her.

“I just got worried, dammit! The way you shot off, I thought you were gonna race off to Freeze Force HQ and free the Pizza guy!”

“Would you have helped me if I did?” He wheezed as Mila elbowed him in the ribs.

“I would have stopped you obviously! You’d have gotten yourself either arrested or killed!”

“Eeh…” Viktor sighed, looking away. “You think I’m an idiot don’t you?”

“Well duh...a little bit!”

Viktor let out another deep groan before stepping away from Mila and onto the ice, smiling slightly to himself as he began to glide across it like he was skating. This was why he liked to come out of here, it was freeing.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing?! The ice could break!” Mila gasped, starting forward a little.

“No, it won’t! I dug through five meters one time, and it was solid ice the whole way!” Viktor grinned, way too proud of that achievement.

“Why would you...dig through-”

“Come on Mila! Shoes work just as well as skates!”

At first, he wasn’t sure that Mila would actually join him since it was a little daunting just stepping out onto a frozen lake like this, but then she smiled back at him and followed. She simply pushed herself around, not even trying to do anything fancy so she wouldn’t slip, whereas Viktor made small circles and patterns as he moved.

“I’ll be honest, this is a bit of a relief!” The redhead sighed. “There’s enough sense in that head of yours to walk away and cool down! That takes a lot.” 

“Yeah well...I know my actions don’t just reflect on me anymore. The Gov saved my life, gave me purpose, even my position with you guys. If I were to start acting out it would make people think I was abusing his authority and his position. I couldn’t do that to him.” Vikt explained himself, his voice surprisingly lacking the energy it usually contained.

“I can understand that...I think when a lot of people see me, they just see Sara Crispino’s girlfriend.” She shrugged, then backtracked. “Which isn’t a bad thing! I’m super proud of what she’s done, you know? Like, she’s one of the leading scientists for Giacometti’s labs! I’m so proud to be her girlfriend! She’s amazing!”

“You’re not giving yourself enough credit, Mila. You’re amazing too!”

Mila stared at him with wide eyes after that, but even that momentary distraction was enough to nearly send her onto her ass. Viktor thankfully caught her, maybe he was just used to this, but when he had her stable, with an arm around her waist...he didn’t move. In fact, he wasn’t even looking at her. 

“Viktor…?” 

Without answering he let her fall the last bit of distance onto the ice, her back hitting the cold with a thud. He immediately turned and looked up at the sky, ignoring the way she yelled at him, at least she yelled until she followed his line of sight. They watched as a bright light shot across the sky and vanished behind the treeline; they could have easily mistaken it for a shooting star...if it wasn’t for the odd color.

“A Burnish Flame? But what’s it doing in the sky?” She wondered to herself, not noticing Viktor getting onto his bike until he revved up the engine. “Viktor?!”

“You call it in, I’ll go on ahead to check it out. It might not be anything, but just to be safe!”

For the second time in as many hours, Viktor ignored her cry for him to stop and shot off in the direction he’d seen the fire going in. It might be nothing, he hoped it was nothing, but it was his job to make sure people were safe, even the Burnish. 

Once he found the approximate location of the fire, Viktor hopped off of his bike and walked a little distance. There was no more sign of the fire he’d seen, and for a moment he just wrote it off as him and Mila just imagining things, but then two children ran through the clearing and into a cave on the other side.

“Ok...that’s suspicious.” He hummed to himself, grabbing his freezing gun and moving slowly towards the cave.

There was very obviously someone in there, since the further he got from the mouth of the cave, the brighter it actually got as if someone had set a fire somewhere in there. And if there was a fire, it needed to be extinguished. After all, what if it got out of control and escaped the confines of the cave? 

Peeking around the corner, he was surprised to see not just the two children, but a whole load of people wearing cloaks and sitting around a huge fire! It was almost like a campsite...just without the tents. Before he could make any move, another child turned to him with wide eyes…

...And then the world went dark.

***

Viktor didn’t know how long he was out, but when he finally came to again his head was pounding. What the hell had happened!? He’d followed the kids into a cave, one of them had spotted him and then...nothing. He tried to move, to get up off the rocky and uncomfortable ground, only to realize that whatever had knocked him out had also tied him up! So maybe he was looking at some _ one _ rather than some _ thing _ . 

“So...you’re awake huh?” A voice caught his attention.

Sitting on a rock in front of him was none other than the man he’d watched get carted away by Leroy, free as a bird and watching him with impassive eyes. Viktor didn’t know whether to feel angry for being knocked out, angry that he’d escaped prison, or relieved that he’d escaped prison. 

...Well, that was confusing.

“You...Your Mad Burnish’s boss!” He scowled, not wanting to admit that he’d forgotten the man’s name.

“My name is Yuuri Katuski. I’ve already told you once.” Right, that answered that. “Now be quiet, we’re trying to eat.”

“You guys can actually eat? Like...people's food?” Maybe his question was a little insensitive, but he really didn’t know how Burnish biology worked.

Katsuki’s eyes filled with an emotion that could only be described as rage, and Viktor had to shuffle back as a flame was thrown straight at his face...only for it to stop just before it touched him. He’d seen Burnish fire up close and personal several times, he knew what it looked like, how it moved...and yet this small flame that hovered in front of him seemed different.

At least it did until it exploded in his face and almost burnt his nose.

“Hey! What was that for!?” He frowned as Katsuki got to his feet.

“Don’t be ignorant!” He hissed, coming to stand directly in front of Viktor. “What do you think the Burnish are?! If we don’t we die like every other human!”

Viktor internally cursed himself for several things then, mostly for allowing his lack of knowledge to slip through and actually end up offending something, also for his mind pointing out how if he didn’t look up to Katsuki’s face he’d be eye level with his crotch. That was not what he meant to be focusing on, so he was going to stop thinking about it.

“Ah...you’re right. I’m sorry.” 

The anger was quickly replaced by shock at Viktor’s quick apology, but there were more important things that needed his attention.

“Yuuri…” An old man pulled him away from Viktor, over to a girl who was lying by the fire.

Viktor winced when he saw that she was covered head to toe in bandages, and was obviously in pain. What had done this to her?! There was something about her that was so familiar to the firefighter, but he couldn’t place her considering her face was almost entirely covered too.

“It’ll be ok.” Katsuki hummed, resting a hand on her forehead. “Phichit and Seung-Gil have gone to get us a truck, they should be back soon.”

“A truck...I really don’t think she’ll last that long…” The old man mumbled.

Wait, was she actually dying!? Sure she was a Burnish, but he’d just had the lesson knocked into him that they were just as human as he was. He couldn’t just sit and watch!

“Wait!” Viktor called, making every single Burnish turn and look at him. “Let me help!”

“You…?” Katsuki was scowling at him again, Viktor almost wished he wasn’t. “She’s in this condition  _ because _ of people like you! You know that right?”

“That may be the case...but I have medical training! And if you let me go to my bike, I can get supplies that could help her heal faster!” He tried to plead with them, but he understood why they wouldn’t trust him.

“Alright, I get it.” He hissed after some deliberation. “But there’s no need for you to do anything.”

With that, Yuuri Katsuki leaned down and pressed his lips gently to the girl’s, and for a moment Viktor figured that he was just going to do CPR...only he didn’t stop. Were they...kissing?! No, it was different, their lips may have been touching but there was no love or intimacy behind the gesture, in fact, he could even see the glow of Burnish flame between them.

Would this actually save her?

Eventually, Katsuki pulled back and she opened her eyes, but the Burnish Leader wasn’t showing the same happiness as the others. Even though her eyes opened, it was only for a moment before they slowly closed again, and what little life Viktor had seen in her faded away. That was when her body  _ physically  _ started to fade away! Katsuki got to his feet, and even with his back to him, Viktor could tell that he was sad.

“From flames to ashes, from ashes to earth. Rest in peace.” He sighed, but Viktor couldn’t help but focus on the fact that she was literally turning to…

“Ashes...she’s turning to Ash!?” 

“This is our fate, Viktor Nikiforov.” He didn’t turn to look at the firefighter as he spoke to him. “The flames we control burn our bodies, but they also give us the power we need to regenerate them.”

A small flame appeared in his hand, and he held it up as if to demonstrate his point to Viktor. 

“Because of this, as long as we’re alive the fire will not harm us, no matter how much we burn, we’ll recover. And then once we die, we turn to ashes. That is our destiny.”

“Are...are you serious?” Viktor couldn’t help but sound breathless.

“Is that such a surprise to you? Every human dies someday, we’re the exact same. We feed the fires that rage inside us until they burn out. This certainty...I see it as a blessing.”

“Is that it then?” The silver-haired man’s disbelief turned to frustration. “You just...live for the flames?!”

“Don’t assume things! It’s much more than that! We can hear the flames, their cries to burn harder and stronger! Their wish is to burn, and the Burnish exist to grant that wish, understand?”

As he spoke, the small flame in his hand joined the campfire until it grew so large that Viktor worried the people at the back of the back would get scorched. He needn’t have worried, they were fine, but there was still an emotion he couldn’t name welling up in his chest. When he didn’t answer, Katsuki continued to speak.

“Whatever you may think of us, just remember that the Burnish don’t kill people, period. Any time we attack, there is always an escape route, how do you think you and your team can get into a building so easily?” It made sense, it always did seem unusually easy to get in. “We take great pride in that.”

Before Viktor could think of an answer, the two guys he’d seen Yuuri Katsuki with before came up behind him, one resting a hand on his shoulder. He couldn’t exactly hear what they were saying, but soon their leader nodded and told them to take the others and get ready to go. Seeing all these people uprooted from their lives, simply for being Burnish, run away from the city they once called home. When he finally found his voice, Yuuri was halfway towards a second exit of the cave

“You’re just gonna keep running then?! Seriously?! What kind of life is that?”

“Yes. As long as Giacometti’s foundation continues to hunt us down, we will run.” Katsuki informed him.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just not start fires?! You could live like the rest of us do! You wouldn’t have to keep running like this!”

The Burnish stopped in his tracks, only to stride over to Viktor and bend at the waist to grab him by the chin. If Viktor were a stronger man he would have been able to scowl at him without his cheeks turning red, but he wasn’t that strong, and he was blushing like crazy at the feeling of those leather gloves on his skin.

“Do you really believe that Nikiforov?” He asked, scanning his eyes for signs of hesitation.

“I mean...ye-yeah I do.” Viktor couldn’t help but hesitate.

“Then you’re truly an idiot.” Katsuki’s smirk obviously hid some very different emotions. “What do you think killed Yuuko? Why do you think she had all those bandages?! Because of Christophe Giacometti and his damned Foundation’s experiments!”

He couldn’t help but be stunned when the Burnish didn’t give him a chance to wait for an answer, but that only grew when he mentioned the Governor. What did he mean by experiments!? He’d hoped Katsuki wouldn’t notice his silence, but of course, the other man was as sharp as the blade he’d fought with.

“You didn’t know? Are you really that naive?” His voice was somewhere between genuine disbelief and laughter. “It wasn’t even just her. Every single person in this cave except for me and my men would have been killed by Giacometti if we hadn’t got them out! We’re dissected like animals! Just for his research! And you tell us to just stop setting fires and lead normal lives?!”

At that moment, Viktor could see that Yuuri was a surprisingly emotional man when he gave up that control he always seemed to have over himself. He found himself wanting to break down all those walls put up by this life he led. Even so…

“That’s a lie! There was no way the Governor would do something so horrific!” 

For a while, they just stared at each other, eyes burning with emotions that were somehow both similar and different. It was unclear which one of them leaned in first, which one of them made the first move, but as Katsuki kept his chin in a vice tight grip, a spark ignited between the two of them. 

The kiss was...well it was in all honesty Viktor’s first so he had nothing to compare it to, but even though it wasn’t that far off what Katuski exchanged with that girl there was still something different in it. There was an intense heat that probably came from the other man being Burnish, and despite being a firefighter, Viktor found himself wanting to chase it.

All too soon, Yuuri Katsuki pulled away and pressed the back of his hand to his mouth, was he grossed out by that? Or maybe, it was more accurate that he was embarrassed by such impulsive actions. His expression made Viktor smirk.

“You’re living in denial...whatever your relationship to him is, Christophe Giacometti is not a good man. I hope you realize that soon.”

Without a backward glance, Yuuri strode out of the cave. After that moment of weakness, he couldn’t afford to look back at him when he called for him. He’d let his guard down twice in a row around that stupid, idiotic, himbo of a man, and now that they’d kissed...well...all that could be said was that those feelings he’d buried deep down so long ago were now rising to the surface.

“Dammit…” He hissed, lifting himself into the truck next to Phichit, who’d apparently decided to drive them.

“All good boss? Did you untie that dummy?” His friend asked after they’d set off, grinning when his question made Yuuri’s eyes widen.

“Oh crap!” In his haste to run away, he’d totally forgotten.

“Meh, he’s a firefighter, someone will probably find him eventually.”

Yuuri sighed and rested his chin in his hand as he stared out at the racing countryside, forcing himself not to bring his hands to his lips. They were still tingling after that kiss, and it was all he could do to try and forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I added a kiss :3 Because why not?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor tries to find out just what exactly is going on behind the scenes at the Giacometti Foundation.  
> Unfortunately, the answer is so much worse than he ever imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I didn't realise this chapter hadn't been uploaded and had only gone into my drafts! Woops! So you guys get two chapters this week!

Ideally, Viktor would have checked his watch to keep an eye on how much time passed after Yuuri Katsuki left him tied up in the cave, but with his hands behind his back, he didn’t have the foggiest. Somehow he’d been tied so well that no matter how much he shifted there was no way he could escape on his own. 

He had no idea how long it was before Mila finally found him.

“Viktor! Oh my god there you are!” She cried, dropping her gun and running over to him. “What happened?! I was gonna call it in but you never came back I had no idea what to tell them!”

“It’s probably a good thing you didn’t...I’d have felt awful.”

“Viktor…?” Mila’s eyes were filled with concern.

“Those Burnish, Yuuri Katsuki and his friends. They were here with a load of people they’d rescue from Freeze Force HQ. They left a while ago though, I don’t know where they are now.”

“You just let them go?” Her hands paused where they were freeing him.

“I couldn’t not. One of them died right in front of me, because of what she went through in that place.” 

The redhead finally got through the ropes, and Viktor rubbed his wrists out of habit. The wrist on his burnt arm was somewhat protected by his medical sleeve so that wasn’t too bad, but the other kind of hurt a little bit. Still...there was something he needed to do, first thing tomorrow.

***

And just like he planned, as soon as the building opened Viktor was there in the lobby, trying to get the clearly sleep-deprived receptionist to let him see Christophe.

“Sir, the Governor hasn’t come in yet. The building has  _ just  _ opened.” She sighed for what could have been the tenth time.

“He knows me! Can’t you just call him and tell him Viktor Nikiforov wants to see him?”

“Sir.” She hit him with a very pointed glare, which almost made him feel guilty for bothering her...almost. “I do not have access to the Governor’s personal phone number. If it makes you happy, you can take a seat and wait for him here.”

“Thank you, I’ll do just that!” 

Viktor made his way to the nearest chair and sat in it, ready to wait as long as he needed for Christophe to show up. It was his day off, so he could literally wait all day if it came down to it. Yuuri’s words kept spinning round and round in his head, and he didn’t know what he could do to make it stop other than clearing things up with the man himself.

Luckily, it was long before the man himself showed up, his ever-present assistant Masumi trailing behind him. As soon as Viktor spotted him, he stood up and stood in his way, clinching the medal in his hand so hard that it hurt.

“Ah...Viktor?” Christophe raised an eyebrow.

“Uuh...Governor Christophe? There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Oh, of course. Come on up. Masumi, cancel my appointments for the next hour just so we’re safe.”

“Yes sir.” 

As they stepped into the elevator the brown-haired man started tapping on the little machine in his hand. The trip up was pretty short, but it was still incredibly tense since he could feel Christophe staring at him, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

Finally, they stepped out into his huge office, but Viktor didn’t speak until Christophe was sat behind his desk and was looking at him with raised eyebrows.

“Ok, I’m listening, Viktor. What is it you want to talk about?” 

The silver-haired man looked down at the medal in his hand and felt the conflict building up in his chest. That voice...it belonged to the man who saved his life, who gave him purpose...was he seriously about to do this. God, he prayed that he was wrong. After a deep breath, Viktor stepped forward and placed the medal on the desk.

“Ok…” Christophe frowned. “What is this?”

“Yuuri Katsuki and other Burnish escaped Freeze Force last night, I didn’t recapture them.” He admitted.

“Right, I wasn’t informed of this. But you don’t need to return the medal.” He slowly pushed it back across the desk towards him.

“With all due respect sir, it’s my opinion that medals ought to be given to people who deserve them...by people who deserve to give them. And neither of us are worthy of this medal.”

“Ok. What is this about Viktor?” Christophe asked again, looking more unsettled than concerned.

“Tell me, honestly. Are you using the Burnish for some sort of sick experiments?!” 

He waited for an answer, prayed that the Governor would tell him he was wrong and that nothing so inhuman was happening under his orders! But the strained silence that followed his question made his heart stop. 

God no…

“How could you...you’re my hero! You’ve done so many amazing things for this city! Why would you do this...something so...so sick?!” His voice cracked with his emotions. “Despite what you might think, the Burnish isn’t any different from us! They need food and water and air, they cry when they lose someone important to them! How can you justify treating them like anything less than human! Sure they can’t just go around starting fires, but we should just arrest them and that should be it!”

He thought back to Yuuri, the pain in his eyes when he couldn’t save that girl, the offense he took to Viktor’s stupid comment...the kiss. He hated to imagine someone like that being used as a lab rat.

“No reason, hm?” Viktor had hoped his voice would show remorse, instead, he just sounded curious. “Alright, Viktor. You want to know why I’m doing these things. Follow me.”

The three of them stepped into another elevator and quickly descended what felt like much farther down than he knew the building actually went. Whatever was going on, Viktor knew he wasn’t going to like it, no matter the excuse he was given.

Soon the dark elevator shaft they were in lit up like someone had flicked the light on in a pitch-black room, only that wasn’t what had happened. By the looks of it, they’d been spat out in a huge cavern filled with lava!? What the hell?!

“So, first some context.” Christophe cleared his throat. “30 years ago the Burnish started popping up worldwide since then the magma in the earth’s core has been losing control. By our estimates, we only have six months before the whole planet is covered in this lava.”

Viktor couldn’t help but gasp when a huge bubble of molten rock burst in their direction, then flinched when it felt like the little pod they were standing in was engulfed by it. By some miracle, they weren’t killed, and it was then that it dawned on him that they weren’t actually at the center of the earth, that Christophe was just showing him a simulation of what was going to happen in half a year. The image shifted to what he assumed was the world’s surface, only it was completely destroyed and covered in volcanoes.

“This...this will make the Great World Blaze back then...look like a damn firework show. Our earth will die before our very eyes.” Viktor’s eyes flicked to the Governor when he hissed this.

The silver-haired man hadn’t been born when the Great World Blaze happened, but he had vague memories of his parents telling him about it, and how if he ever  _ did _ awaken as a Burnish they would do everything they could to protect him. It was only a couple of months after that when they died.

If this destruction was worse than that then…

“No way…” 

Christophe didn’t speak again for a while, but the scene around them shifted into what seemed like the actual appearance of the room. Their little pod moved until it came to a stop in front of a huge wall, at least that’s what Viktor thought it was until it scanned the Governor's eyes and began to open like a massive gate. It seemed a little excessive, but he kept his mouth shut about it. 

Physically though, his mouth dropped open when he saw what was behind those doors.

“This is the Parnassus project. Mankind’s last hope for survival.” Christophe told him.

“It’s...a spaceship?”

“We’ve managed to find a planet, very similar to earth, four light-years away. This ship will carry the remnants of humanity away to safety before the magma destroys everything, ten thousand chosen people will rebuild our society on that planet.”

“Whoa…” Viktor sighed, feeling impressed until the words caught up with him. “Wait...what?! Only ten thousand!?”

“That is the maximum capacity, yes.” He didn’t even sound concerned about the billions of people he was abandoning. 

“You’re...you can’t be serious about this Gov…” The younger man almost choked on his words.

Christophe didn’t seem to think it was necessary to answer that question, and neither did Masumi. The two of them just stared straight ahead whilst Viktor looked back as the ship disappeared from view. This couldn’t be real! He couldn’t seriously want to abandon most of humanity!? The silver-haired man turned sharply when another, smaller, door opened and the other two in the pod with him stepped out. He followed of course, but the sight he was greeted to didn’t help his conflict.

Oh no...it only made it so much worse, as a pair of familiar purple eyes met his.

“You’re…” The voice that came with those eyes gasped.

“Wait...Sara!?”

Out of nowhere, Viktor was meeting his best friend's girlfriend for the first time, and the implications of her being here made his stomach do backflips. If Sara was here, then she was involved. Was this why she was studying warp gates?!

“Um...sir? Why is he here?” She asked Christophe.

“Don’t worry about it, Sara. How are things moving?” 

“The final test is about to start up now, your arrival was very well-timed.”

Viktor followed their gaze to see a familiar head of dirty blonde hair, the man that came with it was strapped to some sort of glowing upright circle. He had no idea what any of the stuff down there was, but that sick feeling in his stomach only continued to grow.

Before his eyes, Emil the pizza guy started to spin like a demented firework, and even through the glass, he could hear his screams of pain. Whatever was happening to him was obviously excruciating...and there was nothing Viktor could do. The scientists in their hazmat suits did exactly as Sara told them, and the four of them watched as a man in a small chamber vanished from the one he was in and reappeared in the one on the other side of the room.

“That’s it! Stop the pod!” Sara gasped, her eyes wide with a scientists’ excitement. “This is great! The test was a success! We should be able to create a fully functioning warp engine very soon!”

“I told you.” Christophe smiled, though it was more a smirk. “We should have used this Promatech engine from the start.”

Viktor had stopped paying attention to them though. He was too busy watching in horror, as Emil’s body underwent the same shift as the girl in the cave with Yuuri. He was dead...or at the very least dying! He’d been taken in such a cruel way and...it was all Christophe’s fault! Yuuri was right.

“Gov...this is awful…!” He whispered when he finally found the words.

“Sacrificing a few lives for the survival of mankind is somewhat justified, don’t you think so Viktor?” Christophe asked, not even looking at him. “You see, without the Burnish, there can be no Warp engine.”

“No! There has to be some other way! This can’t be our only option!? Wha…” He trailed off as he got his thoughts together. “What if we just stopped the magma? Then there’d be no need to leave?”

“You think I haven’t considered that? But with the technology we have...there is no way we can stop it in the time frame we have!”

“And you’re happy to sacrifice the Burnish for that?” The silver-haired man caught Sara shifting uncomfortably out of the corner of his eye...was she not as happy with this as she’d seemed?

“I don’t have a choice. Do you understand what I have to do?” 

“Yeah...yeah, I get it.” Viktor hissed, looking at the man he once looked up to with a glare. “But I can’t accept it.”

“Ok then...what will you do, in that case?” 

“I’ll find a way to put out the Earth’s Magma! That way we don’t need to leave, and you can set all of the Burnish you’ve taken free!”

“I knew you’d say that.” Christophe smiled, turning away from him.

Viktor opened his mouth to ask what that meant, but that was when he felt the pressure of something metal between his shoulder blades. It wasn’t sharp...so had someone point a gun at him?! What the hell?!

“We don’t have much time left, I can’t have you going around and messing things up at this stage.” Any friendliness that Christophe had in his voice when he spoke to him was gone.

“Gov Chris-”

“DON’T CALL ME GOV!”

Before anyone could react or prepare themselves, except for Masumi who didn’t really seem to care, Christophe turned and punched Viktor hard in the stomach, sending him flying into the back room of the wall and making him wheeze in pain. The silver-haired man heard Sara gasp, but he could only really focus on his idol and friend...who was looking at him like he was a piece of dirt. 

“ _ Gov _ .” He spat as if the word tasted nasty. “I’ve always hated it. And then you...You’ve always been an eyesore to me! Get him out of here!”

Viktor was so broken down by Christophe's apparent hatred for him, that he didn’t even have it in him to fight back when two guards hoisted him up and dragged him out of the room. It was only as the door closed between them that he came to his senses and started to struggle.

“Chris what are you doing!? Let me go! Let me go DAMMIT!” 

He was dragged, kicking and screaming until he was thrown into a cell. There was no doubt he was still in Christophe’s main building...so maybe if he banged on the door and screamed loud enough someone would find him?

“LET ME OUT! SOMEONE?! ANYONE?! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!” Eventually, he fell to his knees, tears burning his eyes. “Why Chris...You were my hero, you saved my life! How could you do something like this?”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri's dream of establishing a safe place for the Burnish to live crumbles around him.  
> Mila and her crew try desperately to find a missing Galo.

Out in the desert, surrounded by several active volcanoes, Yuuri’s dream of starting a city for the Burnish to live safely was starting to take shape. It was far from complete, and there were still a few things that needed to be settled, but it was looking better and better every day. Even from his perch on a tall cliff nearby, he could see children playing in the sand whilst the adults went about their duties. It almost seemed like a real village.

“Yuuuuriiiii!” A voice called, making him turn. “What are you doing up here all on your lonesome?”

Yuuri turned to see Phichit and Seung-Gil approaching, the former carrying two plates of food in his hands while the latter just had one. Ah, it must have been lunchtime down there then, it was hard to tell when the sun always seemed to be in the same place.

“Thanks, you two. How are things going?” He smiled, taking the plate.

“Everyone seems to be settling in just fine, the kids all think it’s an adventure.” Seung-Gil informed him.

“That’s good, I’m just...so relieved that we managed to get as many people as we did out of there. Even if we did lose Yuuko.” 

“That wasn’t your fault ok? That bastard Giacometti is to blame.” Phichit bristled, almost crushing a piece of bread in his grip.

“I know…” Yuuri trailed off, his mind going to Viktor and whether or not he’d gone and questioned the man he idolized.

Even a few days later, his lips still tingled. Sure he’d done something similar for Yuuko, but that was just to save her life. With Viktor...it had been a rush of emotion spurred on by his outburst about Giacometti. It shouldn’t have meant anything to either of them...and yet it was constantly moving to the forefront of his mind.

“So...what did happen with you and that firefighter after we left?” Phichit’s voice in his ear startled him.

“Huh?! What, what do you mean? Nothing happened?"

“You’re blushing, boss.” Seung-Gil helpfully pointed out, making him instinctively bring his hand up to hide his cheeks.

“Ah! I knew it! Something  _ did _ happen! Go on, go on! Spill!” Phichit nudged him so hard that he nearly dropped his plate.

“You’re the worst.” Yuuri chuckled quietly, but still gave in. “Fine, I...we...I don’t know. I was holding his chin so he couldn’t look away from the truth about Giacometti, I was up in his face and everything. I just felt so angry that he didn’t seem to get it, then we were kissing.”

“That...is the last thing I expected you to say! Yuuri, do you like that idiot?” 

“I don’t. It’s not like that. My emotions just got the better of me, it was probably the same for him. It didn’t mean anything.”

Yuuri stood up, abandoning his half-eaten food while looking out towards the sky and trying not to look back at the other two who were quietly discussing what he’d told them. Whatever came of what happened with Viktor Nikiforov, this movement and their freedom came first, the Burnish’s freedom was the most important thing to him. 

It was then, as he stood on the cliff watching, that he noticed several cars approaching the settlement at a rapid speed. Everyone who went on missions to rescue Burnish was here, they needed to get the ones they had settled and comfortable first.

That meant...Oh god!

“Phichit! Seung-Gil! We need to go now!” 

He heard the two of them curse as he set off at a run down the cliff, trying desperately to get back to them. As he approached, he saw that already, so many people had been frozen in blocks of ice, and a fiery rage burned in his stomach. Why here, why now?! What the hell was going on?!

“NO!” Yuuri screamed as he saw the main building of the settlement collapse.

“Yuuri, come on! Keep running!” Phichit called, dragging him a little when he stumbled.

With a scream of pain and anger, Yuuri used his fire to grab one of the cars and launch it into one of the others in a large explosion. Of course, Freeze Force was behind this, and he quickly formed his armor around his body as Leroy turned to sneer at him.

“There you are...Katsuki…” He hissed.

“How did you find us?!” The Burnish leader demanded answers.

“Who knows Katsuki? Why don’t you give me your best guess?”

Yuuri tried to think of how Freeze Force could have possibly found them by the Volcanoes when he felt something attached to the side of his armor. What the hell?

“Watch yourself Yuuri.” A hauntingly familiar voice was the last thing he heard.

Despite being ready to fight, it still caught Yuuri off guard when an intense feeling of cold started in his side and moved through his entire body. His armor shattered, and Leroy took advantage of the break to shoot him with something, not an ordinary freezing bullet, but something that actually pierced his skin.

“BOSS!” His friends screamed as Yuuri collapsed to the floor, his armor destroying itself whilst also freezing his body.

“I was waiting for you, Colonel Leroy!” The old man from before started bowing.

“You...what the hell have you done?!” Yuuri gasped, trying to breathe through the pain.

“Alright boys! Get ‘em!” Leroy pointed.

It would have been better if they were using real bullets, but one by one Yuuri was forced to watch as his allies, the people he was supposed to protect, were transformed into huge blocks of ice. It made him sick, it made him want to cry, but all he could do was lie there, frozen in every sense.

“If you were wondering, we put a tracker on that old man before you left.” The Freeze Force leader explained, smirking like it was the best plan in the world.

“That...was foolish of you…!” The Burnish hissed, though he tried and failed to make his voice louder.

“No! You’re the fool Yuuri! As if we were a match against the foundation?!” The old man rambled.

“Indeed. Speaking of, thanks for your hard work, old man!”

Without even looking, Leroy pointed his ice gun at the old man and froze him solid, leaving him with a permanent expression of betrayal and shock. A small vindictive part of Yuuri figured that it served him right, and there was no way that Giacometti would have given him what he wanted for directing the soldiers to them.

But he was also still burning with anger at Leroy.

“Eeeh don’t look at me like that Katsuki. Even this old man has his uses as fuel.” The large man laughed and tapped the block of ice next to him.

“You assho- AAH!” His words were cut off as the bullet encased him in more ice.

“Amazing isn’t it? The Absolute Zero Chain Freezing Bullet.” Leroy grinned. “It uses your own body heat to freeze you, turning your one weapon against you. There’s no chance of you melting it. You’re also not as smart as you think you are, since we knew all along that you’d planned to get caught to free those other Burnish.”

Yuuri tried to come up with a response, but before he could get his mind to work through the pain of being frozen another pain was shooting through his body, as Colonel Leroy punched him over and over. As much as he wanted to stay quiet, he couldn’t help but gasp in agony against the short, sharp punches. 

Even when he found a break and managed to pull his arm free just enough to form one of his swords, Leroy countered easily and destroyed the blade with his fist.

“Not a chance you little brat! As of right now, all your little friends are being rounded up, I should at least give you a reward for making our jobs easier.”

That reward ended up being a bunch to the face, and Yuuri was certain the only reason that his nose didn’t break was that he barely managed to turn his head. There would have been more, but the blessed sounds of revving engines stopped the other man in his tracks, only to be shoved away from him by his friends.

“STAY AWAY FROM THE BOSS!” Was their war cry, somehow in perfect unison.

“You’ll pay for what you’ve done to the settlement!” Phichit shrieked once Leroy’s attention was back on him.

Before the Colonel could even think of attacking again, the two put a huge wall of flames between them, keeping their enemy at bay. Yuuri was torn between gratitude and fear for his friends getting hurt to keep him safe, and not for the first time, cursed that stupid bullet he’d been shot with. He’d never felt so useless.

“Guys stop! Just get out of here!” The Burnish yelled, trying to sacrifice himself.

“No chance boss!” Seung-Gil answered. “As long as you live, the Burnish flame will never go out! Forget about us!”

“Your flames are invincible Yuuri! Don’t forget that!”

Ignoring Yuuri begging them to just save themselves and leave him, his friends formed a huge tube around him that it took him a moment to realize that they’d put him in a cannon. If it weren’t for the fact that he’d barely eaten he’d probably be throwing up right now, he hated that they were forcing him to abandon them...the people who had given him purpose! Even worse, he couldn’t see anything that his friends were doing.

“GET GOING!” Phichit cried, shooting him out of the cannon at high speed.

“GUYS NO!” 

Yuuri tried to look back at them, to catch one last glimpse of his best friends, but with the ice restraining him up to his neck he couldn’t...he couldn’t see them and he had no idea where they’d sent him. He was completely alone.

Soon enough though, the new Freeze Force Bullet had him completely encased in ice, Yuuri was so overcome by the pain of the whole thing that he didn’t even know he’d landed in a damn volcano. 

There was only the hopelessness of the situation.

***

It had been a whole week since Mila and Viktor had gone to the frozen lake and found that cave full of Burnish, and the redhead really wasn’t sure what had gone on since. She’d come to work, expecting her friend to come in and tell her that he’d cleared things up with the Governor and everything was fine. 

But he didn’t.

In fact, Viktor didn’t show up for any of his shifts that week! Every time they asked Yakov the old man got more and more annoyed, with them or with Viktor they didn’t know, but he kept promising that they’d get news eventually. As Mila pulled in for her current shift, she gave a silent prayer that her friend was there and he’d just been mysteriously sick.

“Any sign of him?” She asked, shaking away the helmet hair.

“Not a fucking clue. I’ve called, texted, messaged...I even wrote him a damn letter!” Yuri hissed, typing away on one of the computers connected to a suit.

“Where did you go when you saw him last? Have you been there?” Otabek asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No...I keep going back just in case but he’s never there.” Mila ran her fingers through her hair. “God this week just keeps getting shittier. Viktor goes awol, Sara isn’t even coming home that much anymore. I’ve had enough.”

“Asshole has probably forgotten he promised to help me test out this new tech! I wouldn’t care so much but it’s for  _ him _ !” When Yuri continued complaining, Otabek jabbed him in the ribs.

“If you feel like that, why don’t you work on things that actually matter, and not your useless pet projects!” The older man smirked.

“They’re not useless! They’re for emergencies! You never know!”

“Emergencies...sure thing Yuri.”

“Ugh!” Mila groaned, kicking a pebble away in frustration. “Where the hell is that idiot!”

As if answering their questions, Yakov got their attention from the stairs to his office by banging on the metal railing. They all looked up at him, even Georgi had that same look of hope in his eyes.

“Well, my contact at city hall got back to me.” He sighed, looking tired. “As it turns out...Viktor was arrested about a week ago.” 

“What?!” They all cried out in disbelief. 

“What do you mean arrested?! What for?!” Mila took a step forward.

“They’re claiming he’s a terrorist. Apparently, he tried to attack the Governor.” That...didn’t sound like Viktor at all!

“Do you think it’s true captain?” Otabek was the only one of them keeping a really level head.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not. Viktor’s been locked up, end of.” 

“That sounds like a load of bullshi-” The angry blonde was cut off by the revving of an engine.

Ignoring the calls of her coworkers, Mila shot off on her bike towards the main foundation building. Something was wrong, badly wrong, and if this had something to do with the Governor then she knew exactly who she had to ask to get a straight answer. 

At least...she hoped she got a straight answer out of her girlfriend.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri becomes the embodiment of the rage of all Burnish.  
> Viktor knows that he needs to help Yuuri, the question is how.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So is this a day late? Yes. But it's going up anyway!  
> This was actually the chapter that made me unsure as to whether I should post it.   
> Lio's rage through Promepolis is my favourite scene in the whole movie, and even now I really don't know if I did it justice.  
> Do let me know in the comments!

Stiff arms, stiff legs, and a sense of time that was non-existent, Viktor had no idea how long he’d been sitting in this cell. He’d like to say he’d gotten attached to the four walls around him, but really he just prayed someone would come and get him out just so he had something else to look at. 

One day, he didn’t know which day, Viktor watched as Sara Crispino walked in holding his tray of food. Oh joy, this would be fun. The dark-haired woman told the guard outside that she’d be fine if he closed the door, and much to his surprise she actually removed his restraints.

“You sure you wanna do that?” He asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Mila speaks about you a lot; from what she says you’re not the kind of man to attack an unarmed person. She also told me you were honest and straightforward, but I think I saw that for myself.” She placed the tray on the ground in front of him. “You’ll want to eat that...consider it your last supper."

“Are you seriously ok with what Christophe is making you do?” Viktor ignored the food, choosing to interrogate the scientist instead and when he got no answer he continued. “Mila once told me how proud she was to be your girlfriend. Does  _ she _ know what you’ve been helping to create?”

“What I tell Mila is none of your business.” Sara hissed, turning her back to him.

“You haven’t then. I can get why, she wouldn’t have gone along with it, you know that. If you have nothing to hide from her, just tell her the truth right?”

“Everything I do, I do for Mila! So she can survive this!” The scientist turned back to him, purple eyes blazing.

“You and I both know she wouldn’t be happy about that.” 

Without saying anything else, Sara left the room and strode off back up to the main building. The exchange with Viktor left her rattled but she still had work to do. The Promatech Engine had passed all of its final tests, and they had to get ready for the passengers to come on board.

“Sara!” A voice behind her made her stumble a little.

“Mi-Mila?” Sara stepped back in surprise as her girlfriend approached her.

She hadn’t seen the younger girl in a while, spending so much time in the lab preparing the Parnassus project, and as happy as she was to see her, it also made her a little nervous.

“I heard Viktor got arrested?! Is that true?” The redhead demanded.

“I...yes. It is true.” Sara nodded, trying to hide the guilt she felt.

“But this is Viktor we’re talking about! There’s no way he’s a terrorist! Please! You have to talk to the Governor!”

“Mila...you need to calm down.” Sara sighed, internally hating herself for this lie. “I saw it all happen. Viktor tried to assault Governor Giacometti.”

The redhead didn’t respond, well how could she? In her eyes, Sara was the most honest person she knew, second only to Viktor. It was clear there was still some suspicion, but why would she doubt her girlfriend. A thought came to Sara’s mind at that moment, and she gently rested her hands on the redhead’s shoulders.

“Listen to me, Mila. You need to put yourself first right now. I’ll call you soon, and when I do, you  _ must  _ pick up!”

“Sara…?” 

“I love you. So...So much.”

The dark-haired woman turned abruptly and left the corridor, not wanting the younger girl to see the tears burning the corners of her eyes.

***

In the Volcano, Yuuri felt like he’d almost gotten used to the cold pain covering his entire body. He’d closed his eyes what felt like hours ago, though he was somewhat aware of something hitting the ice as if trying to beat him out. Was that him doing that? He could hear his flames calling to him, almost begging him to wake up and do...something. Begging him to fuel them with his rage.

A rage that was directed at Giacometti.

Yuuri felt heat coarse through his body, the temperature would have probably killed a normal human. But he was one of the most powerful Burnish on the planet, so he let it happen. Let his body heat up to the point of counteracting the bullet in his chest. Luckily it only barely pierced his skin, but it was sure to leave a mark.

Soon the heat became too much even for him, and that was when the ice began to crack, only to shatter and free him. Yuuri felt like his entire body was engulfed in flame, but he couldn’t bring himself to care as he reached up.

“AAAAH!” He screamed, ripping the bullet out and tossing it into the lava.

It didn’t heal, of course, it didn’t, but he felt the wound closing due to the heat radiating off of his body. Great, at least he wouldn’t be bleeding all over the place as he made his way back to the city. 

Those familiar purple flames surrounded him, supporting him in the eye of a giant serpent. In the back of his mind, he could hear Phichit laughing at him for being so dramatic, but in his anger, he could ignore it.

“I won’t forgive you...I’ll make you pay for this!  _ GIACOMETTI!” _

Around him, the volcano erupted, and he used the force to propel his fiery snake in the direction of Promepolis. He would burn down the entire city if he had to, as long as it got him Christophe Giacometti’s head! 

Under normal circumstances, he’d be impressed at his own power, for not only creating a huge snake to manipulate at his will but also shooting fire through every street he came across. He was so focused on finding the man who had taken his friends and people from him, he didn’t even notice as he caused a huge hole in one specific building, in one specific room.

The building was where Viktor’s cell was located, and now the room had a huge hole in it.

“What the hell!?” The silver-haired man gasped, poking his head out.

He watched as the fire spread through the streets of his city, fire hydrants bursting from the ground only for flames to erupt instead of water. Then, at the center of it all, was a huge twisting snake made of Burnish fire, with a familiar figure in the eye speaking to the city in a familiar voice.

“This is a message to Christophe Giacometti! Free your captured Burnish immediately! If you don’t I will burn this entire city to the ground!”

Viktor pushed his hair out of his face, eyes wide as it truly hit him who was causing this destruction. 

“Is that...Yuuri?” He asked himself, watching as a blue flame began to leak from where the Burnish was safely controlling the huge thing and his heart broke. “Those flames...he’s crying?”

Deciding now wasn’t the time to hesitate, Viktor knew he had to do something to get to Yuuri and calm him down. He could tell he was angry, but he also knew that if anyone died during this, the Burnish would hate himself. 

As Viktor hopped out of the hole, Yuuri noticed those stupid flying cars that Freeze Force tended to travel round in. He didn’t have time to be dealing with those idiots, but they did halt his progress a little by trying to freeze the head of his snake.

Of course, the heat of his rage quickly melted it.

“You’re in my way! Get lost!” He screamed, several shots of flame knocking all but one of the cars out of the sky.

As if the whole world was against him getting his revenge on Giacometti, the one car that didn’t get destroyed was the one that contained Colonel Leroy. He immediately began to drive up the side of his snake, shooting pointless round after pointless round of ice at him, even as the car finally got blasted away. 

Yuuri was getting sick of fighting this idiot, and as Leroy finally made it up to where he was standing, he closed his eyes which made the snake do the same, trapping the Colonel there for a second before shooting him into a nearby building. As he took a deep breath and looked around for Giacometti again, Yuuri felt rage bubble inside him again as the relief from that breath faded. He needed to find the bastard who took his friends!”

“COME OUT AND FACE ME! GIACOMETTI!” He called into the night air again, knowing that one way or another, the bastard could hear him.

***

Making his way down the outside of a building that was at risk of being set on fire was something Viktor should be used to, after all he was the best firefighter in the city! And yet his concern for Yuuri up in the sky made it difficult for him to concentrate on finding the right hand and footholds. 

When he finally did make it to the ground though, he knew he needed to find his team, they were the only ones who’d be able to help him get up there with the suit launcher! It would also help to have his Matoi gear, but considering how badly beaten up it was after his first encounter with Yuuri, whether he could use it was dependent on whether Yuri had been able to fix it.

The Silver-haired man ran through the burning streets, looking for any hint of Burning Rescues presence, and luckily fate gifted him with the sight of Mila’s plane flying between the buildings, so he shot off after them. He didn’t know why, but he felt like there was something pushing him to move faster than he normally could, but really Viktor was grateful for it since it meant he could catch up to Yakov in his car.

“Viktor?!” The old man gasped when he spotted him; his shock almost made him take his eyes off the road.

“Captain! I am so glad to see you!” He grinned, then pointed in Yuuri’s direction. “The fire is huge, sir! Not only that! It’s moving! The fire is moving!”

“You mean like the one on your ass?”

Viktor let out a noise of confusion until he noticed in Yakov’s car wing mirror that his ass was literally burning with a Burnish flame, and it was probably the thing that was helping him keep up with the car. Of course, that was when he noticed the heat, and with a yelp, he launched himself back into the truck with Yuri and Georgi, both of whom screamed when they saw him and immediately tried to put out the fire.

“Either way! I’m ready to go Captain Feltsman!” Viktor announced, letting the other two put him out with everything they had.

“Weren’t you...in jail?” Yakov’s voice came from the intercom, sounding even more confused.

“Yep! I sure was! But this fire is our first priority!” The silver-haired man didn’t even flinch when he realized that this was the second shirt he’d lost to a Burnish fire.

“So you escaped then.” He didn’t miss Georgi rolling his eyes at that statement.

“Viktor...thank god!” Mila sighed from her end, that was when an idea hit him, one that could save Yuuri.

“Hey Yuri, is-”

Before he could answer, Yuri was patting the Matoi gear with a smug look on his face, though it was obvious that he must have spent all night working on it to make sure it functioned for whenever he came back.

“Thanks, Yuri.” Viktor smiled, turning to the intercom. “Captain, I know how to handle this. But Mila, I’m gonna need your help. You in?”

“Sure thing.” She replied without hesitation. “What do you need me to do?”

“Follow me when I get launched, but don’t get too close until you see my signal ok? This could get dangerous if I don’t handle it right.”

Whatever was up with Yuuri, he was clearly in a fragile state of mind. It even seemed unlikely that Viktor would be able to calm him down. If he was this distraught though...it could be that he was the only one left who had even the remotest chance. He hopped into his gear and got ready to be fired in the Burnish’s direction.

“Don’t worry Yuuri...I’m coming."


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri and Viktor come together for the first time in weeks.  
> They have a mission, and they know what they need to do.

His attack on Promepolis was probably heading into its second hour, and Yuuri still had yet to find wherever Giacometti was hiding. That only made him even angrier as he floated through the main straight by the Foundation Building. 

It was the only place in the city he hadn’t properly checked, though if he was in his right mind it probably would have been the first, so he made to slowly approach it, just in case they were armed. 

That was when he noticed a figure at the top of the building, and even though he couldn’t make out any features, Yuuri knew that it was Giacometti. His rage flared, and with a loud roar, he shot forward and tried to set the building on fire from the ground up. If his mind was any clearer, he’d have known that it was probably made out of Anti-Burnish and it’d be easier to just ignore the building and go straight up to Giacometti.

Even with ice trying to freeze him, only for the heat of his anger to melt it straight away. Soon he made his way up to the top, where the man himself was watching his city burn without an ounce of concern. It made Yuuri’s blood boil seeing him so calm, that wouldn’t last long if he could help it.

“Mad Burnish! I’m right here!” The Governor announced, his face contorting into a smirk.

“You…!” The Burnish hissed as the snake’s jaw opened to fire one huge shot at the man he loathed.

This was it, he was finally going to make him pay for causing his people so much suffering! Yuuri could feel the energy of his fire building and building, and just as he was about to release it…

Everything stopped, and he was sent flying sideways.

What Yuuri didn’t know was that Viktor in his gear had been launched in his direction, so now he was smashing into the eye of the snake, knocking both it and Yuuri away from the building. Viktor screamed at the heat emanating off of the orb of fire, not that it was hurting him but it was so DAMN HOT!!!

“VIKTOR!?” Yuuri scowled as he realized who had messed up his plans. “STAY OUT OF THIS DAMMIT!”

“I-it’s...no hot at all!” Viktor yelled back, even though it was very obviously a lie. “These flames filled with spite aren’t hot! My soul...it burns a million times hotter than this!”

To Yuuri’s surprise, he brought out that stick from before and jammed it into his little orb, only for it to freeze around him and shoot cold air into the idiot’s face! The Burnish assumed that this had been a mistake on the firefighter’s part, but Viktor had planned this, since that was the signal for Mila to fly into position nearby!

The whole snake froze around them, but as Viktor had predicted it didn’t take Yuuri long to melt it and try to escape. Thankfully he had a secure hold on the Burnish, and when he did eventually get out of the ice Viktor managed to direct the furious young man into the back of Mila’s plane. At least there Yuuri could burn safely and they could talk about why he was so angry, it’d all be fine.

What he didn’t expect...was Yuuri punching him in the face.

“Viktor Nikiforov what the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Yuuri growled, ducking as the firefighter tried to punch him back.

“I know you’re angry!” Viktor tried to plead with him as they fought. “Christophe betrayed me too!”

“What?” The pause was enough for Viktor to get a hit in.

“That being said...What you’re doing...I can’t allow it! How many innocents do you think you’ve hurt with your little temper tantrum!?”

“You’re the one who’s using innocent Burnish for sick experiments! Do you still think I'm lying, Nikiforov?” Yuuri tried to grab him, but all he succeeded in was getting pinned by Viktor instead.

“Hey Firebug!” The firefighter leaned close to him and growled. “Didn’t you say you took pride in not hurting innocents?! What changed?!”

Viktor didn’t know whether it was his words, the proximity or his own thoughts that caused the Burnish to hesitate, but their eyes finally met...and the anger Yuuri felt started to melt into something else. Concern for his people.

Just as the two of them started to move back from the wall he’d pinned Yuuri to, Mila must have pressed a button in the cockpit, as the trapdoor in the floor of the cell opened wide. Both of them gasped, even Viktor since he hadn’t expected it.

“Alright, you two! Time to cool off!” Mila called through the speaker to the two falling men.

Yuuri figured his fire would slow him down, and it worked to a degree...but the fire also caused his jacket sleeves to burn away and Viktor to complain about how hot it was. Soon the two of them hit the ice, and the Burnish flame made sure that they melted it and went straight through all five meters that Viktor had dug through. The water splashed violently for a moment before settling...and revealing a large patch of dry land.

“Have...have you calmed down now?!” Viktor asked, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. “Aw, man...Yuri’s gonna kill me for breaking another suit!”

“I had him...why did you stop me?!” Yuuri hissed, looking at him from where he was lying.

“Because I know you Yuuri.” Was all he said, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

“No, you don’t. You met me twice, both times were over a week ago. You don’t know me.”

“I do know you Yuuri!” Viktor smirked as he heard the younger man’s breath hitch. “I know that if you’d have killed Christophe, you’d have regretted it eventually. I know how proud you are that you’ve never taken a life. I also know...that I trusted you enough to kiss you in that cave.”

“Whoa...guys! Check this out!” Mila’s voice surrounded them again, not giving Yuuri a chance to spit the sarcastic answer he’d thought up. 

To show them what she meant, she turned on the fans in the wings of the plane and dispersed the mist that had gathered as a combination of Yuuri’s heat and the water around them. Once it did clear though, the two of them noticed that they were on the roof of a huge building.

“What is this…?” Yuuri looked around, noticing their surroundings for the first time. “The building’s not even wet? How is this possible?” 

Viktor wondered if he was ignoring the comment about the kiss on purpose, but as much as he tried, he couldn’t hide the blush from the firefighter. Though as Mila explained how the building wasn’t wet, he made an attempt to listen…

...It was just that Yuuri’s ass was more than a little distracting from where he sat.

“It looks like it was in some sort of air pocket?” She frowned, tapping on her screens.

“ _ That is correct! _ ” A voice from nowhere made all three of them scream, Viktor even grabbing Yuuri for security, until the Burnish gave him an intense up and down look and he had to let go. “ _ Welcome, Yuuri Katsuki and Viktor Nikiforov. _ ”

“Who are you?! How do you know our names?” Viktor asked, turning to look at the hologram of a man that he didn’t recognize.

“ _ Not here. I must speak with you, please come with me!" _

The two watched as the hologram man turned to leave, before sharing a look and deciding that maybe they should follow the freaky hologram man. Mila seemed to disagree, but eventually, she landed the plane and came inside with them. At the very least if they did get attacked, three stood a better chance than two.

As the three of them stepped out of the elevator, it was more than a little shocking to see that the whole place was pitch black. They were definitely in some sort of room, but it was hard to see much of anything with the lights off.

“I’m...starting to think this was a bad idea…” Mila admitted, biting her nails. “What even is this place?”

“Some sort of research facility?” Viktor offered.

Yuuri didn’t feel the need to reply to them, especially since a whole load of screens turned on in front of them. They watched as the man from the hologram stood in front of a young man that...Viktor swore he recognized, the old man looking conflicted.

“ _ So...you’re not going to announce the Promatech pods? _ ” That voice...Christophe?!

“ _ Not, I don’t plan on it. It shouldn’t have been invented in the first place! A machine that sacrifices Burnish lives?! _ ”

“ _ I see… _ ” He paused. “ _ And no one else knows about those pods...right? Or the Promare? _ ”

“ _ No one else. Just the two of us. _ ” The old man confirmed.

“ _ Well...that is a relief. _ ” The three real people gasped as the younger version of Christophe pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at his mentor. “ _ Someone has to shoulder the fate of mankind. If not you, then me! In fact, I should do it regardless!” _

“ _ You...my research! Is this what this is about?! _ ”

“ _ Yes, I’m taking it and putting it to good use! _ ”

“ _ Has this been your plan all along, Giacometti? _ ”

“ _ I don’t know...Maybe it was. Though I don’t suppose it matters now.” _

With that, Christophe shot the old man once in the chest, knocking him to the ground in a merciless attempt at killing him. Then again...if he was appearing to them as a hologram now...it must have been that the Governor succeeded. Once he’d killed his mentor, Christophe turned and noticed the camera immediately shooting out that too.

“So...aside from being a lying asshole...the Governor is also a murderer?” Mila whispered, her eyes wide with horror, Sara was working with him...spending  _ time _ with him...did she know?

“The guy he shot...it’s the same guy who brought us here.” Viktor pointed out.

“ _ That I am. _ ” Mila and Viktor cried in shock as they turned, whereas Yuuri just turned with a curious frown. 

“Who...who are you?” The Burnish asked. 

“ _ My name is Celestino. I was the lead researcher when it came to the Burnish as they first appeared. _ ”

The screens lit up again and as they looked around they began to recognise the things up there. All of them, every single one was patented by the Governor and his foundation...and all of them were anti-Burnish materials, armor, and weapons. What was this?!

“ _ These were actually all invented by me, in an attempt to help normal people live with the Burnish. Instead...Christophe stole them, registered them in his name, and used them to oppress the Burnish." _

“So...if Chris stole your inventions and killed you, what are you now?” Viktor asked, turning back to the hologram.

“ _ I had my suspicions about Christophe for a while, so I secretly created a backup of my consciousness, just in case. Though I still have my own mind, I’m little more than an extremely advanced AI. _ ”

“Ok…” Yuuri hummed, rubbing the back of his neck. “So if you’re an AI who has been stuck down here, how did you know our names?”

“ _ I’ve been hacked into the Promepolis network for a while, and the two of you have been on my radar for some time. I needed a way to keep an eye on Christophe without him knowing. See this. _ ”

The screens changed to see the main Foundation Building, where Viktor had literally bumped into Yuuri again during his temper tantrum. It looked like the fires had been mostly put out, but then he noticed something that made his blood run cold.

“What the hell is that?” Yuuri asked, he had no idea what Christophe was using the Burnish for.

All of them watched as huge walls came up and enclosed the Foundation building along with the few residential blocks that surrounded it and the lake. Viktor immediately recognized it, and he couldn’t stop the broken sigh that escaped his lips. Just as the Parnassus rose into the air, the Volcano a few miles outside of Promepolis erupted with a huge explosion of smoke and lava.

Well...shit.

“It’s a spaceship. Chris showed it to me last week before he had me arrested. The Magma under the earth’s core is about to go haywire and destroy the planet.” Viktor explained. “He’s gonna take ten thousand to another planet.”

“Only ten thousand?” Mila gasped, feeling a little nauseous suddenly.

“That’s not the worst thing.” He didn’t mean to look at Yuuri then, he really didn’t, but he couldn’t stop his eyes moving and naturally the dark-haired man caught it.

“What’s the worst thing?!” Those dark brown eyes widened.

“It’s...it’s powered by humans. Chris has put the Burnish he captured into these pods and is using them as the ship’s engine. They are what powers the Warp Engine...but it’ll kill them when he uses it at full power.” 

“No...NO!” Yuuri’s hands went into his hair and he dropped to his knees.

“Yuuri, it’s gonna be ok, we...we’ll stop them yeah?” Viktor rested a hand on the Burnish’s shoulder, only to be violently pushed away.

“And how do you propose we do that Nikiforov!? My best friends are in that torture trap and you tell me it’s gonna be ok!?” The crack in his voice formed a crack in Viktor’s heart, he was even crying.

“I…” He looked at Mila, who seemed to be having her own internal breakdown and was no help. “I don’t know what to do when people cry...should...should I kiss you again?”

That got both of their attention, Yuuri looking up at him like he couldn’t believe what he’d just said, then Mila looking at him like he was the world’s biggest idiot. The Burnish was now facing a whole new level of conflict however because on the one hand, kissing Viktor again was all too appealing, on the other, it really wasn’t the time for it, and on a totally different hand was that he was crying in front of people that weren’t Phichit and Seung-Gil.

“I’ll think about letting you do that...if you can save my friends.” Yuuri mumbled, wiping his eyes, standing up and looking away, hiding his embarrassment. 

Viktor was honestly shocked that the Burnish didn’t try to set him on fire for even suggesting that, but it wasn’t a no so he couldn’t help the grin at that. Mila on the other hand still looked upset.

“Viktor...you knew about this right?” She waited for him to nod. “Did...Do you know if Sara was involved in this?”

“Mila…” Viktor tried to think of a good excuse...but it was hard given what he’d seen in the lab.

“No, I get it.” She hissed, crossing her arms. “Dammit, Sara…”

“ _ Christophe is a fool blinded by his hatred of the Burnish. _ ” Celestino interrupted, his hologram appearing in front of them again. “ _ The engine he’s put in that ship is incomplete, and if he uses it, well...let’s just say it won’t be six months before volcanoes destroy the earth. If he hurts the Burnish with the engine, the Promare in the magma will go out of control and destroy the earth immediately. _ ”

“What does that mean? And what are Promare?” Mila asked, chewing her nails.

“ _ Though it looks like the Burnish control are flames, they’re actually a fire based life form from a parallel dimension. When I discovered this, I named them the Promare. They form a fixed star in their home dimension; an aggregate of living organisms that live through nuclear fusion, and then consciousness through magnetic fields. The flames the Burnish control are but a fraction of the energy, which is seeping through a rupture in time and space. _ ”

“Wait, what? Those flames are alive?” Viktor was stunned, and he could feel phantom sensations running up his burnt arm.

“ _ Yes. 30 years ago a distortion appeared in the earth’s core, which connected our world to that of the Promare. When this happened, a number of humans found that they could resonate with the Promare and use their power.” _

“And those people were the Burnish…” Yuuri hummed as Celestino confirmed. “So the voices we hear, the ones that push us to burn harder...it’s the Promare. But if that’s the case...what have we been fighting for this entire time?”

“ _ With the energy from the Promare, it is possible to travel between dimensions. However, it would cause immeasurable pain to the Burnish, and the signals from their nerves would reach the Promare in the core. If they feel enough pain, the Promare will lose control and destroy the planet.” _

The three of them looked at each other, unsure of why they were being given this information. If these fire aliens were at the center of the earth, then what could they do? Yuuri might be able to get down there without dying, but any digging machinery would melt around him, then Viktor and Mila were rather flammable. 

Luckily, it seemed that Celestino had a plan.

“ _ Yuuri Katsuki, Viktor Nikiforov, I need you two to take down Christophe Giacometti and stop him from destroying the earth!” _

“Alright, and how do you want us to do that?” Yuuri scowled, more than a little skeptical.

“ _ Follow me _ .” Celestino walked off down another corridor.

“What do you want me to do?” Mila asked Viktor, as Yuuri headed off after the hologram.

“Go to the plane and wait for us ok? It’ll be ok.”

She looked like she wanted to protest for a moment, but the redhead must have thought better of it, as she nodded and shot off back towards the way they’d come in. With that settled, Viktor followed Yuuri, only receiving a brief glance from the Burnish as he caught up.

They were presented with a huge robot, one that looked like something right out of a kid’s TV show. Was...was this what they were meant to use to take down Giacometti?!

“ _ This suit is powered by something similar to what Christophe is using in that ship. _ ” Celestino informed them, guiding them into an elevator.

“Wait, then how are we meant to use it without killing Yuuri?!” Viktor asked, shocking the Burnish with how defensive he was being.

“ _ This Promatech engine is something I’ve completed since my death using machines. As you can imagine I’ve had quite a bit of time on my hands. You will both use this robot, and save the world! _ ”

The two of them exchanged a look, neither of them quite sure if this was the right thing to do, but there wasn’t much of a choice. It was either go in the weird robot...or let the world be destroyed. Once the elevator reached the access port, Yuuri slid into one compartment, whilst Viktor took a seat in front of what looked like a control panel. Ok...this was actually kind of cool!

“ _ I created this super weapon in the event of a Promare related catastrophe. This...is the Deus ex Machina!” _

“Whoa...this is incredible!” Viktor sighed, looking around at all of the controls. 

It was far more complicated than anything he’d ever used before, but the more he looked at it the more it started to make sense. The only thing that really confused him was Yuuri sitting in that circular pod behind him.

“ _ This completed Promatech pod won’t cause Yuuri any pain. His body will be used as a gateway, harnessing the energy of the Promare to power the machine. All Viktor needs to concentrate on is the movement. _ ”

Yuuri closed his eyes and felt his body hum with energy, and he could hear as the robot began to power up around them. This was incredible, and the science behind it would have probably gone way over his head had Celestino tried to explain it, but he was still impressed.

“So why us?” Viktor asked, launching the Deus ex Machina in the direction of Promepolis. “Why did you choose Yuuri and me?”

“ _ Well...choose is a strong word. Rather, you were just the first people who came here when it was necessary. _ ” Both Viktor and Yuuri’s jaws dropped. “ _ Christophe needs to be stopped, but I can’t do anything on my own. Then you two just fell into my lap. It was well-timed. _ ”

“Wait!” Mila’s voice came through an intercom. “What would you have done if we hadn’t shown up?”

“ _ Then the world would probably be destroyed! _ ” 

“Is this guy serious?!” The redhead raised her eyebrows.

“ _ I’m no longer a guy, I’m merely a computer program that has served its function. Ciao Ciao! _ ”

Whatever Christophe was doing in that ship, it was causing cracks to form in the earth as the three of them flew towards the city. Burnish...no, Promare flames erupted and ended up engulfing the facility behind them, and it took a good minute for Viktor to make his eyes turn forward again.

“So uh...how are you feeling...about everything?” Viktor asked, nervously.

“Excuse me?” He could feel Yuuri’s eyes burning into him, still judging him for his words earlier.

“I...I mean, you’ve just discovered that your flames are actually little aliens. You must be at least a little surprised?”

“So what if I am? What does it have to do with you?” Yuuri responded, not in the mood for this conversation, he had to save his people before they were massacred...he needed to save Phichit and Seung-Gil.

“Well...I suppose it has nothing to do with me.” The silver-haired man hummed, before turning to look at the Burnish. “But I do know this! If there’s a fire, it’s my duty to put it out! And this is the biggest fire! So I’m gonna need you to burn out!” 

“What?”

“Show me how proud you are to be Burnish? You understand?” Viktor turned back to the front.

“Alright. We’ll do this!” Yuuri smirked. “We’ll save the Burnish  _ and _ the earth!”

“That’s it Yuuri!” Viktor grinned, pushing the machine to move faster.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri and Viktor make their way to the Parnassus   
> It was time to fight to save the world from being destroyed by Christophe and his ideals

Getting to Promepolis took longer than any of them anticipated. But as the city came into view, they were all shocked to see the city was burning again, less than when Yuuri had gone on his rampage but enough that it had them worried. They weren’t even using the warp gate yet, and Yuuri could tell that the Promare were agitated. 

“So...you have a plan?” Yuuri asked.

“Uuuh…” 

“Seriously Viktor.” Mila’s voice came through the intercom again. “You have a plan right?”

“Well...I was just gonna go up to the ship and make a commotion until they give me attention.” Viktor chuckled.

There was no response from either of them and for a moment Viktor thought that they were genuinely considering it, then Mila sighed deeply. 

“Yuuri, what about you? Have you thought up a plan?” 

“Unfortunately not...so we might have to go with Viktor’s plan either way.”

“Uuuh guys?"

As Viktor got their attention back to what was happening in front of them, Yuuri felt himself go cold. A triangular shape had appeared above the ship, which must mean that he’d activated the engine.

“We need to hurry!” Yurri gasped, tensing his body to give the Deus Ex Machina more energy.

“Guys watch out! I think they’ve spotted you!” Mila told them, directing the plane away from them a little.

The robot survived hit after hit, and even the two people inside were surprised that the thing didn’t even explode and kill them. That didn’t mean they didn’t take some damage, because Viktor cried out as they fell down onto the roof of the Parnassus with a thud. It was so violent that Yuuri very nearly slid out of the engine’s pod. 

“What are you doing?! You’re supposed to pilot this thing not kill us with it!” Yuuri groaned, forcing his neck to turn in the right direction to look at him.

“Eeh...sorry! I just...I can’t get in the zone you know?” 

“What?!” Yuuri’s voice cracked with his surprise.

“I mean look at this thing? How can I motivate myself to fight when it looks like a gummy bear?” The silver-haired man brought up a schematic to prove his point. “Aesthetic is very important Yuuri, how can you expect my soul to burn in this?”

“You get me to come with you and this is the crap I get? You’re such an idiot Nikiforov.” Yuuri rolled his eyes at him. “We can’t just sit here though...they’ll kill us! How about this?”

Energy flared through his body again, and Viktor watched as something like armor appeared on the schematic. It wasn’t far off from something from the same era as his Matoi gear, and he immediately began to smile and give Yuuri the thumbs up to do it.

Burnish flames moved around them, forming the shiny black material around the soft-looking surface of the Deus ex Machina, similar to Yuuri’s armor back when they first met. This was right! Now he could really feel his soul burning and ready to fight! Just as the transformation finished, bullets started to rain down on them, but it wasn’t enough to stop them! 

“Even when the ideals you look up to fall to the ground, hope will never break!” Viktor monologued, while Yuuri was too busy to laugh at him. “A firefighter with a burning soul, and a powerful Burnish with an icy disposition, like oil and water! This is the absolute firefighter! Katsuki de Nikiforov! We’ll put out every last fire on the earth!”

“Wha-” It seemed that Yuuri caught the end of that. “What the hell are you talking about now?” 

“Well, the name Deus ex Machina seems a little too on the nose! Katsuki de Nikiforov is much more impactful, especially since the two of us are working together. I could have easily said it the other way round, but I’m just humble like that.” Viktor smirked.

“Of all the stupid-”

Before Yuuri could finish his insult, they started firing on them again but this time they were ready for it and set off at a run for the Foundation building, which seemed like it was acting as a control room. That was the point they needed to target, so Viktor took a running leap to punch it.

“Hyper...Fire...Safety...PUNCH!” Viktor yelled, his voice echoing through the speakers.

“For the love of god…” Yuuri groaned at hearing the attack name.

Whilst Viktor and Yuuri continued to beat down the tower, where they presumed Christophe was hiding, Mila decided to attack in a different way. She logged in to the Parnassus communication network and tapped into where she figured Sara and the other scientists would be. This was just as important if they wanted this nightmare to end.

“Sara? Can you hear me? It’s Mila!” She called into her headset, praying that she’d done it all right.

“Mila? What the hell are you doing? Why didn’t you answer my call!? Where are-” Her girlfriend sounded hysterical, but this wasn’t the time.

“I’m fine, but that doesn’t matter right now! You need to watch this!”

With a press of a button, Mila played the video Celestino had shown them about the earth’s core exploding, explaining what he’d told her and the boys. It was way less sciency than he’d been, but it didn’t matter. She got her point across.

“Sara! You can’t launch that ship!” The redhead demanded. 

What played next was the video of Christophe killing Celestino for Sara and whoever was with her. Chances were they’d all know Celestino if they were all scientists...so if they weren’t already questioning the ethics of what they were doing, they certainly were now. 

“That’s...Professor Celestino!” Sara whispered, her girlfriend barely catching the statement. “Christophe...killed him?!”

“The footage is obviously faked. It’s made up by rebels.” Mila heard the Governor’s voice and seethed quietly, before hearing a quiet click.

“Alright, I’m listening.” Sara muttered, she must have switched to a separate communication device. “Did Christophe really kill the professor?”

“He really did, Celestino told me himself!” It was only after she said it that Mila realized how stupid that sounded. “A-anyway! The engine you’ve been working on is incomplete! If you use it now the world will be destroyed!”

There was silence, no sort of answer from her girlfriend. Either she didn’t believe her, or Christophe had somehow caught on to her and had kicked her out of the system. That seriously sucked, but all she could hope was that Sara trusted her and did the right thing.

Down below, Viktor was continuing to kick and punch at the tower, hoping that in some way he was disrupting operations there. He even tried to kick a hole through the roof of the main ship, anything to stop the damn thing from going through the warp gate!

“UGH! COME ON YOU STUPID PIECE OF JUNK! LET ME GET TO THE BURNISH!” Viktor growled, trying to get through.

“Hold on guys! I’m coming!” Yuuri called, knowing full well they couldn’t hear him.

“Guys look!” Mila interrupted, making the two of them look up.

“Oh god…” Yuuri whispered.

“Crap, they’re about to warp! We need to hurry!”

Viktor went back to kicking the control tower, trying to knock it down, and eventually it looked like they were going to succeed. If there was no tower, then they couldn’t warp! So the damn thing had to come down!

After a few moments of kicking, a new noise above them made them look up to see a box come out of the control tower. For a minute they had no idea what that thing could even be. At least they wondered...until bit by bit it began to transform into another robot...and a haunting voice came through its speakers.

“This futile struggle of yours is over!”

Viktor paused as he watched Christophe land in front of them inside this giant robot. He was...really going to try and kill them with that thing wasn’t he?! Viktor thought back to all the times he and Chris had shared smiles and laughs...were those seriously all fake?! He almost didn’t want to believe it, but there was no way he couldn’t.

“Viktor.” Yuuri sighed, using only his first name. “We’ve got this ok? I...I know this must hurt you...but we can’t let him get away with this!” 

“I know…” Viktor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Let’s do this!”

The force with which Christophe’s robot landed on the roof with them, ended up punching a hole in the metal large enough for both of them to fall through. Viktor almost forgot that they were on a spaceship, as the sky and the sun looked almost too realistic! He’d have been seriously impressed if the whole thing wasn’t powered by human lives.

“Giacometti! Free the Burnish dammit!” Yuuri called through their own speakers, glaring up at the...frankly much larger robot.

“You filthy terrorists! How dare you!”

With what could only be described as a war cry, a few panels opened on the robot’s chest, revealing what looked like a cannon! With barely any time to think, Viktor bent their robot back,  _ just  _ dodging a ray of energy that shot out. With widened eyes, Yuuri and Viktor watched as one of the buildings turned into a literal mountain. 

“What the hell!?” Viktor gasped.

“That thing almost hit us…” Yuuri sounded like he was about to throw up.

“Do you like it? The Genocide Cultivation Beam is what we’ll use to terraform our new planet!” Chris sounded so smug.

“What do you mean do I like it!?” Viktor grit his teeth and stood them upright again. “There were people in there you bastard!” 

“Well, obviously they’re in underground bunkers obviously!” 

“Are they though, are they really?” Yuuri hissed, fueling the Katsuki de Nikiforov with more energy.

Viktor surged them forward and, while Chris was still gloating, brought the machine’s fists down on the cannon, thankfully managing to snap it! That was one weapon down, he couldn’t afford to let Christophe try and use it against them again.

The Governor growled at them and tried to punch them into the ground, but thanks to Yuuri’s control of the Promare they had enough strength to not get completely obliterated. Viktor had to admit, he was happy to see Yuuri’s anger put to much better use: not letting them get killed.

“If you have all this technology why don’t you use it to control the Magma?!” Yuuri asked a very valid question.

“Don’t you think I would have if I could?! Why do you think we’re migrating?!”

It was a bullshit reason, and neither of them bought it. This only made them push back harder, fight harder,  _ burn _ harder!

“If you know it’s gonna be destroyed then why don’t you just stop it!?” Viktor shot at him this time.

“You’re such a fool!”

The larger robot pushed them down so hard that it ended up sending several bits of debris flying, one of which they ended up standing on. It gave them the opportunity to punch Christophe’s robot in the face, but that victory didn’t last long since the Governor retaliated with a hard punch that sent them flying down the lake.

“Viktor come on!” Yuuri gasped, pushing himself harder.

“I’m trying dammit!”

He managed to grab onto one of the buildings and change their directory, shooting back towards Christophe's feet first so they could kick him hard in the head. They very nearly knocked him over, and maybe they would have if he hadn’t grabbed them by one of their ankles and proceeded to swing them into several buildings before finally letting them drop. That didn’t stop them from getting to their feet and brushing off the dust...well it didn’t stop Viktor, Yuuri was complaining of a stiff neck and a headache.

“I won’t let you commit any more atrocities!” Viktor announced, pointing a robotic finger at his former idol. “One final showdown, the Katsuki de Nikiforov...against...the uh…”

“Are you seriously coming up with a name-” Yuuri sighed, only to be cut off.

“Against your Krayzer-X!” The silver-haired man was way too proud of himself. “We’re gonna see who’s more powerful! Yuuri, get it!”

“Yeah yeah.” Yuuri rolled his eyes and brought his hands together in a point.

Viktor used this pointed energy to create a circle around his arm, almost like a cannon, which he pointed at Christophe. He let it fire in his direction, creating a snake similar to the one Yuuri had used to attack the city, and he hoped that it would at least catch the Governor off guard. Unfortunately, he seemed ready for it and created a wall made of huge ice blocks that even Yuuri’s fire could melt through. 

It pissed them both off, but Viktor wasn’t done yet. He pulled on a lever, and three more snakes appeared, merging with the first to form one huge first. This finally managed to melt through Chris’ barrier, and Viktor was already laughing at how he was about to punch the man who’d betrayed him in the face...only for the larger robot to grab him by the fist and hold him there and hit them. 

“STOP!”  _ Punch.  _ “MAKING UP!”  _ Punch punch.  _ “STUPID NAMES!”

Viktor was vaguely aware of Yuuri ordering him to move them out of the way, but with the way he was held they were helpless as what looked like a large stick was jammed into their fist and destroyed it, taking some of the armor away with it.

“And this is the Pulverising Pile Driver! Another one of the tools to use on our new planet, it can break through even hard bedrock to reach water veins!” There was a pause as it sounded like Christophe was laughing. “Compared to that...your armor is PAPER!”

Viktor was panicking as he dodged hit after hit from the Pile Driver, a part of him briefly thinking of the people in the building behind him and hoping they were ok. It just went to show that Chris didn’t actually care about the people on the Parnassus...just finding a way to get rid of the Burnish.

At one particularly deep thrust, the Pile Driver ended up getting stuck in the building which gave Viktor a chance to maneuver them out from where they were pinned and put some distance between them and Christophe. 

...However, that only caused the governor to pull the entire building out of the ground and throw it at them.

“OH SHIT!” Viktor gasped, setting off to try and outrun it.

“Move faster idiot!” Yuuri cried, more out of fear than anger at the Firefighter.

The building landed behind them with an explosion of dust, but that only served to disguise Christophe as he charged forward and punched them so hard that they flew right to the other end of the lake. The collision with the ground had Viktor’s head spinning, but it seemed that Yuuri was clear-headed enough to keep making snarky comments.

“We’re getting our asses handed to us.” He groaned, rubbing his neck, well at least he wasn’t upside down this time.

“We can’t win like this...he’s too strong!” Viktor sighed, trying to shift in his seat. “If I had my Matoi Gear we’d stand a better chance!”

“Ma-Matoi? Wait, is  _ that _ what that weird costume you were wearing before was called?!”

“It’s not weird! It’s the embodiment of the Firefighting traditions of a far east island!” The firefighter shot back, defending his gear.

“Alright calm down! I think I’ve got it…”

Yuuri closed his eyes and his hair began to flair out around him as he concentrated his energy into their right hand. It took Viktor a minute to get the hint, but once he did he picked up a nearby pole and watched with wide eyes as Yuuri’s fire turned it into a Matoi fancier than the one he’d owned before. And while he was at it, he fixed the Katsuki de Nikiforov’s armor.

“How’s that?” Yuuri smirked, sounding incredibly impressed with himself.

“Amazing Yuuri! You’re incredible!” Viktor grinned, swinging it around to test it out.

Viktor couldn’t see, but Yuuri’s cheeks turned red at the praise. Luckily he didn’t have time to turn around and see it, as Chris was preparing to attack them with the Pile Driver again. Of course, he had a much better way to avoid the attack this time and jammed the end of the Matoi into the Pile Driver pressing down until the weapon snapped.

Two weapons down...hopefully, that meant he didn’t have all that much left to attack them with.

“What do you think of this, Christophe!? Katsuki de Nikiforov..plus Matoi Gear!” Viktor called, waving the stick to show it off.

Before Chris could respond to that, the entire ship jolted and knocked both robots over. Whatever was happening, it was obviously unplanned since Christophe’s robot had completely stopped moving. 

“Viktor...what do you think that was…?” Yuuri asked, anxiety creeping into his voice.

“I...I don’t know. Hey, Mila!” Viktor tapped a button to talk to her. “You’re still outside right? What’s happening.” 

“I…” She sounded extremely shocked. “It looks like the warp gate is closing? It looks super unstable! I think Sara’s messed with something in the engine!"

“The engine...but that’s where-”

Yuuri couldn’t even finish expressing his concern for the Burnish when the ship rumbled again and began to...move? Whatever was happening outside, it caused Gravity to give up for the day and send the two robots up to crash into the ceiling.

Well...Chris crashed into the ceiling. Viktor and Yuuri shot back up through the hole they’d come in through to land on the roof of the Parnassus again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is another section where I'm not sure if I'm happy with it.  
> Gonna upload it anyway though, cause if I keep looking at it, it's never gonna get done.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christophe reveals his true colours to Yuuri and Viktor.  
> Viktor feels his very world start to crumble around him.

The whole thing had come to a dead stop, whatever Sara had done, it worked like a charm in stopping them from leaving. Their relief was short-lived though, as Christophe burst out through the hole in the roof, making it even bigger with a cruel laugh.

“So that’s it! We can no longer stop the Earth’s destruction! This ship is mankind's last chance to have a future! And I, Christophe Giacometti, will create that future!”

Several cannons appeared on the front of the Krayzer-X and the two of them began to panic a little as they saw that every single one of them was aimed at them. There was no way they could move fast enough so like with that gun that turned things to dirt, Viktor bent them backward at the waist, just in time to avoid being hit. 

Their position also meant that they could watch as the beam passed through the city, freezing buildings and leaving a path of ice until it hit a nearby mountain...which exploded into several huge blocks of ice. Viktor didn’t even want to know what would have happened if that hit them.

“The Absolute Zero Heat Death Canon! This freezing weapon will protect us from any threat on our new planet!” Chris sounded way too smug considering the number of citizens he probably just froze.

“If you have something so powerful why don’t you use that to stop the Magma?!” Viktor asked, his eyes wide.

“Honestly Nikiforov!” The eye roll was almost audible. “I’d have to get to the core of the earth! No machine could possibly withstand the temperatures!”

“You’re...just looking...for any...excuse to...migrate!” The silver-haired man grunted as he swung the Matoi to destroy ice blocks that Christophe was shooting at them.

“You two truly are fools if you think you can defeat me!”

Viktor could tell right away that Christophe was going to shoot them with that beam again, but he quickly formed a plan that was a huge risk but...if it meant disarming the Krayzer-X then it’d be worth it!

The cannon fired straight into them and it was only by Yuuri’s Burnish energy that they didn’t get knocked back. Even so, Viktor forced them forward, Matoi first, trying to get to the main gun.

“Viktor!? What the hell are you doing, you didn’t even try to dodge that!” Yuuri shouted over the screaming rush of ice.

“Just grin and bear it ok!? I know what I’m doing!” Was the only answer he got.

“You’re an idiot!”

“Hell yeah, I am! I’m the number one firefighting idiot!” Viktor laughed as he was finally able to grab onto the part of the machine he needed to. “I’ll put out his ambition right now!”

“Alright! I trust you!”

There was a hint of pain in Yuuri’s voice as if he was straining himself to give the Katsuki de Nikiforov the energy it needed to do what Viktor wanted! He silently apologized, but it wasn't for much longer. Finally, he was able to shove the de-armored, arm into the cannon, and Yuuri gave one last cry as he pushed as much energy as he could into it.

The result was the Krayzer-X was impaled with several huge spikes of crystallized fire, almost mirroring the icicles that were hanging off the Katsuki de Nikiforov. It gave them the break they needed, more than Viktor needed because he was sure that he was about to freeze to death.

“It’s ok...you’ll be ok.” Yuuri whispered to him, running his hands gently over his arms and back to warm him up.

“Tha-thank y-you Yuuri!” The silver-haired man grinned weakly until he noticed Yuuri’s attention move elsewhere. “Wha-what’s up? We be-beat him, right?”

“Look…” 

Viktor followed the Burnish’s line of sight, only to go pale as he saw a large figure drag himself out of a hole in the wreckage. Somehow...Christophe was still going! And looking like even more of a raging lunatic while he was at it; his hair flying away from the neat style he normally wore.

“Tell me, Yuuri Katsuki. How badly do you want to save you fellow Burnish?!” He was taunting him, trying to provoke him into attacking. “Because no matter how badly you want it, you will  _ never _ be able to! The Burnish are destined to die! Listen! Can’t you hear their screams of pure agony!?”

“You...Giacometti…!” Yuuri growled, his entire body tense as he fell hook, line, and sinker for the Governor’s provocation. 

“You hate me that much!? Come at me then!”

“I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! YOU BASTARD!”

Without giving Viktor a chance to even try and stop him, Yuuri was leaping over him and zipping up the makeshift path towards Christophe. He was so fast, heading straight for the Governor, one hand already starting to burn as he rushed the man, skidding to a stop right in front of him. Yuuri didn’t punch him though, instead, he just hit Christophe with a huge rush of fire.

Viktor’s heart dipped as he watched the guy he’d become so fond of killing his former idol, and he really didn’t know what to do with himself. This was it...this was the end of it all, right? The Burnish would be able to live like normal people without being kidnapped and tortured, right? He could get to know Yuuri properly...right?

Although, by now Viktor should know that he and Yuuri weren’t so lucky.

“Do you think you can burn me with your pathetic flames?!” Chris smirked, his face reappearing as those flames began to die down.

How was that possible?! When Yuuri was angry, his flames burnt so hot that they were almost too strong! How was he still even alive?!

The sleeve and glove on Christophe’s arm disintegrated, revealing the fake one he’d had implanted. It was aflame with the same fire that Yuuri used, and it caught both of them off guard. Why was he...did he have something in his arm that let him do that?! Then Viktor’s eyes moved to his hair, to see those same colours.

“You...The Burnish are just a bunch of fools.” Christophe grinned manically. 

“Oh my god…!” Viktor gasped, his eyes wide.

“You...don’t tell me you’re…” Yuuri figured it out before the firefighter did.

“Yes. I am no different than you.” Chris flexed his hand, glaring at the flames as if they disgusted him. “I have that same ugly mutation. You have no idea how hard it has been to control this! To have the  _ will _ to fight the urge to burn! The Burnish are slaves to the Promare, to their instincts!” 

“Are you serious?” The younger Burnish looked stunned. “You say that like you’re any different from the rest of us!”

“I  _ am _ different Katsuki!” 

Chris’s arm jerked out towards Yuuri and before he could even make a move to run, he was grabbed by an arm of fire. Viktor wanted to do something, anything to get the man...the man that he was increasingly fond of away from Christophe, who was seriously looking like he was about to kill him!

“My Burnish power is stronger than yours has ever been.” The Governor growled at the younger Burnish, pulling him closer. “However, you are strong enough to be of some use. I’m going to use  _ you _ to power the Promatech engine.”

“What?! No! No, you can’t!” Yuuri tried to wiggle out of Chris’s grip, only to be held even tighter until he cried out.

“I suppose I should be thanking you-”

He was cut off by a small block of ice hitting the oversized fiery arm, and both of them turned to see Viktor glaring, whilst pointing one of those ice guns at the Governor. There was a minute where the Firefighter could have laughed, thinking back to how he was literally arrested for doing this a week ago, but now wasn’t the time to laugh.

“Let him go Chris...that’s enough.” 

“Ha...how pathetic.” The Governor smirked, obviously reading Viktor’s feelings. “You know what Nikiforov? I’ve always hated you, from the moment I met you.” 

It was difficult not to let how much those words hurt him show, but now there was an aching in his chest...like it was solidifying that it was true. Chris had never seen him as anything other than an annoyance, maybe as far back as when he first saved him.

“I had my first Burnish spasm when I was young...not much older than you.” It seemed he wanted to explain now...great. “I was trying so hard to hold the flames back...but I couldn’t. Not only did I destroy my own arm, but I also set the house next to me ablaze.”

“Wait...so you...you didn’t save me?! It was because of you?!” Viktor could feel his world crumbling around him.

“I was barely older than you, but I knew how bad it would look if the people who showed up later realized it was me who started the fire in the first place. So I turned a bad situation into an opportunity, and ‘saved’ you.”

“My...my parents were in there... _ you _ killed them! And then you let me...let me think that you saved me?!” 

Yuuri wanted to go over to him, comfort him in some way that he hadn’t even figured out yet. But Christophe’s grip on his body was crushing, almost making it difficult to breathe as he was forced to listen to how much that asshole hated Viktor.

“You didn’t need to know. Besides, in my head, you wouldn’t be around much longer. As soon as you were old enough I had you placed with Burning Rescue, that job obviously comes with a high mortality rate, so I thought my problem would be solved soon. Except you kept coming back, again and again, and again! You just wouldn’t die! Everything in my life has been perfectly planned, except when it comes to  _ YOU _ !”

“You bastard! How could you!?” Viktor could feel his eyes burning with tears.

“This is the end, Nikiforov! You won’t bother me anymore.”

Viktor wasn’t looking, so he couldn’t see Christophe’s hand move to shoot flames in the firefighter’s direction, but Yuuri could see it clearly and he wasn’t about to let this guy hurt someone so ridiculously good!

“Viktor!” The Burnish cried, sending his own fire to protect him.

The silver-haired man gasped as Yuuri’s flames surrounded him, forming a layer between him and the flames Chris was using to kill him. They weren’t hot, Yuuri’s flames, just a comfortable warmth that made him feel safe. Of course, he didn’t have much time to dwell on it, as Chris ended up overwhelming Yuuri’s power and forcing Viktor off of the arm of the Krayzer-X.

“YUURI!” 

“VIKTOR NO!” Yuuri cried, not even bothering to hide his feelings now. “You...you’re a monster.”

“Maybe in your eyes.” Chris formed a second giant hand of fire, ripping the Promatech engine from the Katsuki de Nikiforov. “But to everyone else, I’m a  _ savior _ !”

Much in the same way that Yuuri used his fire to fly and lead Freeze Force away from the Burnish escape, Christophe used his own to carry both Yuuri and the Promatech engine down back through the hole in the Parnassus, probably straight to the engine.

***

All the way down the other end of the ship, Sara managed to wiggle herself out of an escape hatch on the roof of the Parnassus. Leroy was somewhere behind her, but she’d taken a route that had a fair few obstacles, so hopefully, that bulky armor of his got in the way and gave her time to plan.

“This is so messed up!” She gasped, finally processing what she’d done.

Overfilling the engine with energy had completely destroyed it, so on the one hand she’d done the right thing. However, now Freeze Force were after her...and she didn’t have anywhere left to run. She was at the edge of the roof.

“I can’t believe this is happening! I can’t believe I let this happen!” She wheezed, looking over the edge to try and find her way down.

But of course, the Parnassus was like most of Promepolis...smooth and shiny, with absolutely no footholds. She heard the hatch open again and spun with a gasp, looking for another way out, but of course, there was nothing.

“Nowhere to run now, little scientist! Leroy sneered, his men lining up behind him as if she were some sort of threat. “You should know better than to go against the Governor!”

Sara looked around once more, peering over her shoulder to see if there was at least a nearby building she could land on without breaking her legs. Instead, she found something much better, and with one last smirk at the colonel, she jumped over the edge…

...to land neatly on the top of Mila’s plane.

Never had the redhead been so relieved to see her girlfriend, as she piloted the plane up to get a good look at the asshole who’d chased her. She was unsurprised to see Leroy and his goons pointing guns at the two of them, but Mila was only the distraction.

The two girls watched as the rescue mobile drove straight into all of Freeze Force, knocking them out and keeping them away. Mila grinned at Yakov in thanks as she opened the hatch for Sara to climb in through, the dark-haired girl quickly pulling her into a deep kiss.

“I love you. You have the best timing ever.” Sara sighed once she finally pulled away.

“Of course I do, it’s part of the job.” Mila smirked, then turned to tap on her screen. “Next on the to-do list; getting Viktor.”

She flew over to where her plane was picking up Viktor’s signal, and set it to land on autopilot. It meant she could go on ahead on her bike, and Sara would still land safely. The others were following her too, but from what she’d seen around Viktor’s body she didn’t really have time to wait for them. She had to get down to him,  _ fast. _


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri hears voices in the core of the Parnassus.  
> Viktor goes in after him, needing to save the Burnish no matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter, but we're coming to the end!

Below them, in the engine of the Parnassus, Yuuri had been physically chained up inside the Promatech engine. It was uncomfortable at best, and downright painful at worst. Either way, he knew it was only going to get worse, especially with how Christophe was smirking at him.

“Take a look around you Katsuki. Your fellow Burnish are surrounding you, and their pain and anguish will fuel this pod. With that, you will be the one to fly us across the stars to Humanity's salvation.” He felt the need to explain. “You’ll become a legend, though I don’t think one of your kind deserves such a distinction.” 

“You won’t get away with this Giacometti!” Yuuri hissed, trying not to look around him at the other Burnish.

The pods around him started to spin, and not long after that Yuuri began to feel the pain, the rage, and the fear of the Burnish coursing through his body, forcing his own energy out into the pod. 

When Viktor had piloted the Katsuki de Nikiforov with him, there had been pressure in his body, but it wasn’t painful the way this was. It made him angry, it made him feel all sorts of things that only helped Christophe power the engine. He was aware of the other man telling someone else that there were five minutes until launch, so this was it...he was being used to destroy his people. 

Then there was a voice. It was hard to focus on, especially as he could feel his body straining to even stay together, but there was a small voice whispering in his ear.

“Wha-What…?” He tried to hear it better.

“ _ Let us burn out _ !” The hell did that mean!?

Yuuri didn’t have time to dwell on it, however, as another wave of pain washed over him and made him scream.

***

When Viktor eventually woke up, he was shocked to come face to face with the Business end of Mila’s ice gun. It took him a minute to remember what he’d been doing just now, but as it came back to him, the firefighter immediately sat up and looked around for him.

“Yuuri?!” He called, effortlessly hoping that he’d escaped.

“Viktor what happened? You were...on fire!” Mila gasped, putting the gun away.

“Chris...he’s taken Yuuri! His fire protected me. Oh god, where could they…” The silver-haired man stared at the tiny fire in his palm, begging it to tell him where its owner was.

That wasn’t how the fire worked, but he could dream. 

A loud noise attracted all of Burning Rescue’s attention towards the sky, and a cold silence fell over all of them as they realized that the warp gate was opening again.

“Guys! They’re going to warp!” Mila pointed out, her eyes wide.

“That’s not possible! I destroyed the core of the engine, they  _ can’t _ warp!” Sara pointed out.

“That must be where Chris took Yuuri. He’s using him to make a new core! Fuck…” Viktor ran his fingers through his hair. “I need to get down there!”

“Viktor, you can’t seriously think you can just fight your way to the core!” Otabek sighed, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t have a choice. Yuri, got anything that could help?” He turned to the small blonde.

“You’re lucky we have a spare Matoi suit,  _ and  _ that I installed a drill on it.” Yuri smirked, turning to Otabek. “See, Beka!  _ Emergency! _ ”

“Ok ok, Yura I get it. But Viktor, are you sure this is the best idea?”

“I’m part of Burning Rescue. It’s my job to find people who need me and help. I’d rather die than leave Lio down there.”

Viktor missed the knowing look the rest of his team sent each other, but before they could make preparations to send Viktor down there, they had to move out of the way as the Rescue Mobile nearly got tipped onto them. Colonel Leroy’s voice had them all seething.

“Alright, Yakov. This is your one chance to hand over the scientist and that white-haired punk!”

“You really are delusional if you think I’m letting you get away with that.” Yakov growled, putting himself between Leroy and his team.

“You’ve got some real guts to defy me, old man!”

“How do you think I kept my job for so long! My team has the authorization to fight in situations like this!”

“Otabek! Let’s get him!” Georgi waved his friend over.

Since the two of them were already in their rescue suits from before, they leaped up the knocked over Rescue Mobile to finally give Leroy a piece of their minds. Proud of the two of them, Yakov immediately turned to Viktor.

“Alright, you. You need to go save that Burnish boy, then that’s what you’re gonna do. Yuri, get the launcher ready, for once in his life Leroy has actually done us a favor by tipping us over so we can shoot you directly through that hole.”

Viktor quickly hopped into the Rescue Mobile and sat inside his suit, ready to be shot straight down. He could hear Yuri typing furiously in his ear, talking with Sara about schematics and things that generally went over his head. 

Instead of listening to them, he thought about Yuuri. He was probably down there all alone, afraid and in pain. Viktor didn’t know why he felt such a connection with the Burnish, but he couldn’t think about it. If they both managed to get out of there alive, they could talk it through together.

“Viktor! We’re ready to launch!” Yuri hissed, finally addressing him. “You need to activate the new drill gear once we’ve launched you.”

“Got it.” The firefighter nodded, locating the button.

“Sara gave me the layout of the ship, so all we have to do is press go and you’ll be good. Don’t get yourself killed, got it?”

“I’ll do my best Yuri.” He paused. “You know if things work out down there, we might have to give you a nickname!”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Well, it’ll be difficult with two Yuri’s! Why don’t we call you Yurio?”

“Viktor, stop teasing him! Yuri, launch him!” Yakov ordered.

Without giving Viktor any more time to prepare himself, Yuri pressed the button to shoot him down. He never normally felt nervous before a rescue mission, but he guessed this once was different. If he couldn’t save Yuuri, then there was no way he could save the rest of the Burnish. 

“I’m coming Yuuri!” He called as he triggered the drill and the grinding of metal rang in his ears.


End file.
